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Pams Daily Dish

Serving Up Simple Daily Deliciousness

Baked Fruit and Nut Couscous

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:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, spray 9 ramekins with cooking spray and place on a cookie sheet. Set aside.
  2. In a small to medium saucepan, boil the apple juice with water; remove from the heat and add vanilla extract. Stir.
  3. 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.
  4. After about 10 minutes, remove the lid and fluff the couscous.
  5. 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.
  6. Scoop out mixture into the 9 ramekins with a half cup measuring cup.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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!

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