- 1 red onion , sliced
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon (I used a full one, really. I like it. And added 4 person spice just for 1 person, better if you use fresh tomato, I reckon)
- 1 tsp ground cumin (same as above, not one for delicate flavours, me)
- 300g mushrooms , quartered
- 400g chopped tomatoes
- 410g chickpeas , rinsed and drained
- 1 tsp honey
- 175g couscous (make sure it's vegan couscous if you're cooking vegan on purpose)
- 250ml stock/boiling water
- 50g soft dried apricots , diced (you can buy them diced. What a world)
- handful flat-leaf parsley , roughly chopped
- 80g French beans to serve if you want to turn your supper into dinner.
Still on my brand new food jaunts and definitely wanted to share this one with you – it’s a perfect easy and fast ‘supper’ – as they say. Actually I don’t know who says ‘supper’ and then cooks this kind of thing, supper for me is marmite toast and a glass of milk before bed when I was little. Anyway. This is an ace small dinner, or a brilliant quick proper meal if you add some French Beans. It’s based on this recipe. I’ve tried it a couple of times, now, and I’d definitely recommend using fresh chopped tomato instead of tinned, it seemed to dry up less fast, and also taste… well, fresher. Odd that. Anyway, information:
Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 15 mins | Serves: 4 (although the pictures are of it cooked for 1)
Nutrition: 380 kcal with couscous, 403 with 80g french beans. Otherwise 245 kcal, protein 11g, carbohydrate 44g, fat 4 g, saturated fat 0g, fibre 6g, sugar 11g, salt 0.51 g
Ingredients:
What to do:
Fry the onion in the oil for 5 mins or so, until soft.
Add the cinnamon and cumin and cook for 1 min, stirring.
Add the mushrooms, cook for 2 mins
Then stir in the tomatoes, chickpeas and honey.
Season and simmer for 7-8 mins.
Meanwhile, (I love it when recipes use meanwhile, or as it’s also known; ‘THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING BUT WE ONLY TOLD YOU ABOUT NOW’) mix the couscous with the dried apricots and some seasoning in a bowl. Pour over 250ml boiling water/stock, stir to mix, then cover. Leave to stand until the couscous is couscousy.
To serve, fluff couscous with a fork, stir in the parsley and top with the mushroom mixture. Serve with them beans if you want
Yummy!
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Now with contributions from 
There’s such a thing as non-vegan couscous?! Also, shouldn’t the honey have some kind of similar non-vegan warning?
Couscous is technically a kind of pasta, so you need the non-eggy kind. I know the vegan society don’t accept honey as an ingredient, but every vegan I know does, so this being more of a food-blog-for-mates I think discretion is pretty easy to exercise. Most people don’t know coucous is pasta though, so added that bit.
Here’s more on couscous (which really should just be durum wheat and semolina) http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?4209-Is-couscous-and-pasta-vegan
FYI – I am vegetarian/vegan for environmental/lactose intolerant reasons. I still eat meat 5 times a year, and dairy is part of my diet (especially cheese). Aware ‘vegetarian 360 days of the year’ is a better term for me, but too much of a mouthful. Have been doing this for a couple of years so still working stuff out. That’s the standpoint of these recipes, though.