Come to dinner in a Bedouin Tent! (Tesco Cous Cous)

Member Name: jo@145

Product:	Tesco Cous Cous
Date:	20/06/05 (1441 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quick, Easy to use

Disadvantages: Bland

Several years ago we spent a Christmas and New Year in Tunisia. It was a very different way of celebrating the festivities, and included being in the sea on Christmas Day! We discovered many new things, in this very different continent, we learned to haggle, to say “NO!” to the offers for our daughters and to eat some strange looking and delicious foods.

One food item we came across was Couscous. The plainest of plain hard wheat, how boring it looked, but with some thought a very filling and versatile product and a great stand-by to have in the cupboard.

We went on the trips organised by the Reps. Needless to say we learned the hard way and rarely do them now as more experienced travellers! But this one was fun and we tried out different foods and had an evening’s entertainment in a so called Bedouin Tent! We discovered that the Tunisian women prided themselves on how they prepared the couscous. It seemingly took hours of work, rubbing and rolling the large grains of hard wheat semolina and some water was needed to get it to stick together, it was put through sieves and left several days in the sun to dry. Goodness knows how much sand got mixed into it! It had to be steamed often over the meat and vegetables which were stewing to go with the couscous and broken up with a fork to separate the grains. The steaming was very important and it was steamed two or three times.

You’ll be very pleased to discover, or probably have already! That we can buy couscous now that is prepared and needs very little steaming. In this busy life style we lead we haven’t got time to do all the preparation that the Tunisian women had to do.

I shied away from buying it at first thinking it took hours of preparation, but decided to give it a try and was so pleased to find a really quick alternative to rice and pasta. I buy Tesco Couscous, and I’ll forgive you if you’ve missed it on the shelf!

* PACKAGING *
The bag is a very plain light brown plastic, with a black and red label, and a rather non-descript picture of some couscous and vegetables. It contains 500grams of “Steamed and dried granules of durum wheat semolina”. On the back is the Best before date – mine is April 2005, so it has a good long life, in case it gets pushed to the back of the cupboard and lost!

*INSTRUCTIONS *
The suggestion is to add half the packet to an equal amount of water, which has previously been heated with a little salt and a tablespoon of cooking oil. Stir gently, remove from the heat and cover with a lid and leave for 3 minutes to absorb the water. Add 2 or 3 knobs of butter and return to the heat for 3 minutes. Separate the grains before serving.

*CONTENTS*

Small hard grains of durum wheat semolina, not much smell, and certainly not much taste until flavourings are added. Pale yellowy in colour.

*STORAGE*
It should be stored in a cool dry place, and once opened placed in an airtight tin or container.

*NUTRITION*
On the back of the packet it gives the amounts of calories etc in 100gr, it has 363 which seems a lot but not many people will eat 1/5th. of the packet at one time! There is 15.1g of Protein and only 1.1g of Fat. Now this might sound good but dieters remember if you follow the instructions you are adding extra oil and butter!! I’ll give alternative suggestions later! Suitable for Vegetarians.

*SUGGESTIONS FROM PACKET*
It states that Couscous is the staple part of the North African diet, and the couscous grains are accompanied by a fragrant vegetable, lamb or chicken stew. Or can be served as a simple salad with tomatoes, herbs and olive oil.

*COST*
My bag was only 80pence, and will probably do our family of 3 two meals. I say probably as it depends who is cooking and how hungry people are!

*OTHER IDEAS*

As the couscous is so plain it does need lots of flavour to make it tasty. I like to add stock or a mixture of stock and white wine instead of water. Apple juice is an alternative if you don’t want to add alcohol. Fresh herbs are nicer than dried if you have them and can give it a different slant. Some grated lemon rind gives it a zing, especially nice, when serving the couscous cold as a salad, with prawns, cucumber and baby tomatoes. Flavoured oils added instead of butter help to vary your diet.

It is very easy to make and so quick and can be served instead of rice or pasta with lots of things, do try it!

*QUICK DINNER*
And lastly one of my favourite quick meals.

Apricot Chicken Couscous Serves 2
2 chicken fillets 1 chicken stock cube
Olive oil 1 tblsp.Apricot Jam
1tsp. Ground Cumin 4oz. frozen Green beans
1 tsp Ground Coriander 12 olives

Couscous about 6oz plus olive oil, (wine if liked as suggestion above) and fresh coriander or parsley to garnish if liked.

Slice the chicken into pieces and heat oil in frying pan about 1 tablespoon. Add chicken and sprinkle with spices. Turn over and cook quickly on other side. Add half pint of boiling water to pan with stock cube, jam and beans. Prepare the couscous according to directions. Cook the chicken for about 5 minutes and add chopped olives. Season carefully with ground pepper and if necessary more salt, it does depend how salty the stock cube is.
Test chicken to make sure it is cooked, fluff up the couscous and divide between two plates. Spoon the chicken and beans on top and garnish with fresh coriander if liked. Enjoy the spicy sweetness of succulent chicken with the plain couscous, and be ready to enjoy in less than 20 minutes!
Be transported to a warmer country and enjoy this in a Bedouin tent or if you haven't time, make do with using the Dining room table and just pretend!

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