Gluten Free Moroccan Couscous
A delicious gluten free Moroccan couscous recipe with tips on how to make your very own couscous using a great hack with gluten free pasta. This couscous dish is made simpler with fewer ingredients but still packing loads of flavour. Great as a side dish or on picnics or in packed lunches.
Servings: 2 servings
Calories: 386kcal
Ingredients
For the couscous
- 150 g gluten free couscous
- 500 ml boiled water
For the Moroccan flavour
- 50 g raisins
- 1 gluten free stock I use Knorr Vegetable Stock Pots
- 1 tsp cumin seeds you can use ground cumin
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 clove garlic (powder, puree or clove) crushed
- pinch ground turmeric
- 1 lemon
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
To cook the couscous
- Boil the kettle and pour 500ml of boiled water into a large saucepan, bring back to the boil.
- Add the weighed couscous and stir with a metal spoon to separate the little beads of 'pasta'. Bring back to the boil then remove from heat add a lid and leave for just 5 minutes.
- Once cooked, drain the pasta using a sieve and wash under the cold tap. Place the sieve over the empty saucepan off the heat and drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper, now leave to cool while you continue to prepare the Moroccan flavouring.
To make the Moroccan spice flavouring
- In a dry frying pan add the cumin seeds and toast for a minute until you can smell the cumin. (If using ground cumin, skip this step).
- Boil the kettle again and make 200ml of stock with your gluten free stock cube.
- To the stock add all the spices, onion powder, crushed garlic and juice from half a lemon (keep the other half back for garnish).
- Tip the stock into the frying pan with the cumin seeds and return to the heat.
- Add the raisins/sultanas and heat through until these plump up and the stock has reduced to a thick gravy
- Using a fork, fluff up the cooled couscous and tip this into the frying pan. Remove from the heat (keep cooking and the couscous will go sticky)
- Make sure your couscous is coated in the Moroccan style stock, I continue to use a fork for this bit as it keeps the grains from clumping together too much.NOTE: with ALL gluten free couscous you can expect a sticker end result, not fluffy individual grains like semolina couscous.
- Serve immediately as a side dish if eating hot or allow to cool to room temperature and transfer to a Tupperware tub and keep in the fridge to eat cold.
Notes
With gluten free couscous, you need to rinse the tiny grains once cooked as they are too 'glutenous', anyone else think we need another word to describe sticky foods?
In my recipe, you cook the couscous, rinse the starchy gloopiness away and then add the flavour.
As with my top tips in my Easy Gluten Free Pasta Salad on how to cook pasta, the same tips apply here;
- no need for oil
- no need for salt
- add boiled water to a medium saucepan and bring back to boil
- THIS BITS DIFFERENT - remove from heat once back to boil, add a lid and time for 5 minutes
- rinse thoroughly under a cold tap
- add a dash of oil to keep couscous from sticking
Nutrition
Calories: 386kcal | Carbohydrates: 85g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 0.1mg | Sodium: 511mg | Potassium: 449mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 26IU | Vitamin C: 31mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 3mg