Monday, March 08, 2010

My Israeli Couscous Recipes

Israeli Couscous

Use (Giant Pearl) Israeli Couscous (serves 3.5):

  1. In a medium saucepan, saute´1.33 cups couscous with one tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat until couscous is lightly browned (about 5 minutes.)
  2. Slowly add 1.75 cups of boiling water and bring to a boil.
  3. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover.
  4. Simmer for 12 minutes or until most of the water is absorbed.

Lazy Israeli Couscous

This is not nearly as good as the other way:

  1. Boil 1.5 cups of water.
  2. Stir in 1 cup of Israeli Couscous.
  3. Cook 1 minute, remove from heat.
  4. Let stand 5 minutes.

What is couscous?

More about Israeli Couscous (also known as Ptitim)
It is bigger than regular couscous, more like rice similar to orzo pasta. According to Wikipedia, nicknamed "Ben Gurion's Rice" in Israel it is one of the foods considered to be a unique Israeli culinary contribution. Israeli Couscous was invented during an austerity period in Israel, when rice was scarce. I have noticed Israeli Couscous now being packaged as "Mediterranean Couscous" in Whole Foods. It appears to be the same stuff. Since it was invented in Israel I gotta ask, what, they got something against Israelis?

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