I was presenting at my church’s health fair a few years ago and they were hosting a guest chef, The Guiding Knife, for a cooking demonstration. One of the entrees that I sampled was this curry couscous w/ chickpeas dish that was UH-MAZING. It’s was originally made to be a great vegetarian entree or side, but I like to add some chicken/shrimp for a full meat/seafood entree. What’s even better? When you break down the total cost of the ingredients, it’s roughly $1.50 per serving!!
Recipe (serves 8)
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp. allspice
3/4 cup couscous
2T olive oil
1 sweet potato, diced
1 onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 12 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup raisins
3T cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper
- Clean and cut the vegetables about the same size. Toss the vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Roast the vegetables on a cookie sheet at 400ºF until golden, about 45 minutes
- Meanwhile, combine 1/2 cup of orange juice and the water in a saucepan over medium high heat. Stir in the allspice. Bring to a boil and stir in the couscous, cover, remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
- If you are adding chicken or shrimp, season with pepper/salt and saute in a medium frying pan until fully cooked
- Heat the remaining orange juice in a saucepan, add the curry powder, raisins and chickpeas, cook for 2 minute. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.
- Combine together roasted vegetables and meat, if desired, and stir.
- Serve hot over couscous or mix all together in a bowl. Voila!
