This recipe for Simple Fruit and Nut Couscous is really delicious with the wonderful textures and tastes. Great as a side dish, dessert, breakfast or main dish by adding some protein. Enjoy this anyway, it’s so good!
My family really enjoys having couscous as a side dish with dinner. I usually make it simple with just salt, pepper, and maybe some caramelized onions; Sometimes I’ll use chicken or vegetable broth instead of water to make it a bit interesting. So that got me thinking: why not add some nice texture to this already textured grain. This time I wanted to bake the couscous for a crunchy topping. I bet it would taste great with some dried fruit and nuts too. It did! So here is a new way to make couscous. It’s sweet (but not too sweet) and has lots of great texture. Delicious as a side dish or add some chicken or steak for a main dish recipe.
Simple Fruit and Nut Couscous
Yields: 9 side dish servings
Nutritional: calories 173, fat 4 grams, fiber 1.9 g, protein 4.1 g
Ingredients:
- 1 10 ounce box plain couscous – I used Near East
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened apple juice
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries or any dried fruit of your choice
- 1/3 cup slivered toasted almonds — place the almonds on a dry baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes; do not let them brown too much
- 2 tsp cinnamon to be divided among the 9 cups
- 9 tsp brown sugar
- 9 tsp butter or vegan butter
- Orange or lemon zest on top after baking is done — optional
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees, spray 9 ramekins with cooking spray and place on a cookie sheet. Set aside.
- In a small to medium saucepan, boil the apple juice with water; remove from the heat and add vanilla extract. Stir.
- Pour the box of couscous into the pot of water/apple juice mixture; stir once or twice, cover and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes. Do not take off the lid during this time.
- After about 10 minutes, remove the lid and fluff the couscous.
- Add the cranberries and mix gently. Don’t worry if you have a few clumps. Try to break them up as best you can. It will taste the same with or without a few clumps.
- Scoop out mixture into the 9 ramekins with a half cup measuring cup.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon among the 9 cups, then add the almonds evenly over each cup and top with a teaspoon of butter. Sprinkle the top of each ramekin with a teaspoon of brown sugar.
- Bake in oven for about 15 minutes until the sugar seems to have bubbled a little or looks like it has a slightly crunchy top.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for just a few minutes and serve either warm or at room temperature. Sprinkle orange or lemon zest if you choose. Enjoy!