Summer Vegetable Couscous With Spicy Pesto
- Total Time
- 2 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
- 1cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water
- 1small onion stuck with 2 cloves
- 1bay leaf
- A short piece of cinnamon stick
- 1medium carrot, peeled
- Salt and pepper
- 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1large red onion, cut in ½-inch-thick slices
- 2teaspoons grated or minced garlic
- 1tablespoon tomato paste
- ½teaspoon pimentón or paprika
- ½teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½teaspoon toasted ground cumin
- ½teaspoon toasted ground coriander
- 2cups sweet peppers (such as red and yellow bell, cubanelle, gypsy or corno di toro), cut in 1-inch cubes
- 4cups zucchini, cut in 1-inch cubes
- 2cups chopped ripe tomato
- ½pound okra, left whole
- 2tablespoons butter
- 2cups corn kernels (from about 3 large ears)
- Salt and pepper
- 2cups couscous
- ½teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of crumbled saffron (optional)
- ½teaspoon turmeric
- 4cups roughly chopped cilantro, leaves and tender stems only
- 1 or 2serrano chiles, roughly chopped, to taste
- 1smashed garlic clove
- ½teaspoon toasted ground cumin
- 1cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½teaspoon salt
- Juice of 1 lime
For the Stew
For the Couscous
For the Spicy Pesto
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the chickpeas for the stew: Put chickpeas in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Add onion stuck with cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and carrot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and gently simmer for 45 minutes or so, until tender. Add ½ teaspoon salt and let chickpeas cool in their broth. May be cooked a day or 2 ahead. Alternatively, use 2 cups canned chickpeas.
- Step 2
Make the couscous: Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add corn kernels and season generously with salt and pepper, then sauté, stirring, for a minute or so. Add couscous, cinnamon, saffron (if using), turmeric and 3 cups water, bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 1 minute, stirring. Put the lid on and turn off heat. Leave for 10 to 15 minutes, then fluff. Taste and adjust salt, then keep warm. Or, for lighter, more tender couscous grains, follow step 3 (optional).
- Step 3
Spread warm couscous on a baking sheet to let cool to room temperature, then rake with fingers to remove clumps. Sprinkle with ½ cup cold water. Then place couscous in top compartment of a steamer and put water in bottom compartment. To steam, bring water to a boil, then reduce heat but leave at a rapid simmer. Steam for 15 minutes, covered. Keep warm.
- Step 4
Make the stew: Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add red onion and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until somewhat softened. Add garlic, tomato paste, pimentón, red pepper flakes, cumin and coriander and stir to coat.
- Step 5
Add sweet peppers, zucchini and tomatoes and season generously with salt. Add cooked chickpeas and 3 cups chickpea cooking liquid or water. Stir to combine, bring to a simmer and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add okra, cover again and cook for 5 minutes more, until all vegetables are soft. Check seasoning of broth and adjust if necessary.
- Step 6
Meanwhile, make the pesto: Put cilantro, serrano chile, garlic, cumin, olive oil and salt in a food processor and pulse to a rough purée. Transfer to a small serving bowl. To keep green color, add lime juice just before serving.
- Step 7
To serve, ladle stew (with plenty of broth) into large wide bowls or deep plates. Nestle a large spoonful of couscous on the side. Pass the spicy pesto separately, telling everyone to add pesto to taste.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Santosh
I think there is a tiny mixup here. The turmeric should be added to the stew, after the onions have softened and along with the garlic.
It should be the saffron that is added to couscous. The way to maximize flavor is to take 1/4 tsp of saffron and add it to 1/4 cup of water. Microwave for 15 seconds and leave on counter for 4 hrs, till it turns bright red. Mix this with the couscous prior to steaming.
The only time you add turmeric to couscous is if you cook it with vegetables.
Morgan
It wouldn't be a David Tanis recipe without at least two extraneous steps. The man loves fussy recipes that require dirtying the maximum amount of crockery. Only someone being paid by the hour would follow them step-by-step. The rest of us mere mortals take his lovely, inspired recipes and streamline them for normal people, usually to great results.
Cook couscous per the package, with the additional ingredients. You'll be fine.
Haudi
Why do you steam the couscous?
Tom Alberti
In Israel, where I come from, couscous is steamed over the stew pot so it gets all the flavors.
Robert
It's a pity to miss out on the okra as it gives the broth an authentic African saveur. If your problem is the slimy nature of okra, you can salt it, cover with wine vinegar for half an hour or so, rinse and dry throughly. Cooked whole, this solves the slime issue. Roasting the vegetables? You're losing freshness (the vegetables in this stew cook for only 15 minutes) and natural texture. If you feel the roasting made a big difference, can I assume that you tried the original first?
Robert
In northern Africa couscous is prepared in a couscousière, a kind of steamer where a stew for the couscous simmers in the bottom and the couscous (semoule), having absorbed cold water and wrapped in a kitchen towel, steams in the vapour of the stew in the top. Several times during the cooking the couscous is rubbed by the cook between his hands. The result is light and fluffy couscous that, just by itself, is sublime. David's recipe tries to simulate this lengthly process.
Jane
Request
For ease of shopping and planning please provide weights for vegetables, here peppers, zucchini and tomatoes.
Thanks
Ryan B
Didn't care for the pesto; the cilantro was overbearing and masked all the other flavors (and I don't usually mind cilantro). I ate the leftovers without the pesto and enjoyed it much more. Also added a generous amount of feta, which worked well.
Laurel W
The perfect solution to the conundrum of what to serve at a late summer luncheon for vegan guests. I did the pesto in advance as well as some of the chopping, so throwing together the morning of was a snap. Some vegan recipes can be a little drab visually, but this one was stunning. (To ensure brightness, take care not to overcook). Steaming the couscous is worth the extra step. NYT’s “Best Gazpacho” makes a great starter to go with.
Gabe
Absolutely delicious. I love when a vegetarian meal can feel this decadent. The cilantro I had went bad and I used my last lime yesterday, so this became a spicy arugula pesto with lemon. Would agree that 1/2 a cup of oil is more than enough, but if you use as much sauce as I do, you may want to double the recipe. I doubled the spices which may be a personal preference. Didn’t use any okra and didn’t miss it. Whatever you do, don’t skip the corn. That sweet crunch was very welcome.
Rachel
Definitely halve the olive oil for the pesto!
BST
Lots of work for so-so results.
BethC
The cilantro pesto is amazing and really makes the dish, IMO. Jalapeno peppers seemed fine (vs. serrano, which I could not find). The couscous was delicious prepared this way; I'd make it this way again. (Did not steam it tho.) Based on some notes below, I added the turmeric directly to the stew, not to the couscous. I used okra but only because I happened to have it; I think in pandemic times this could be adapted to whatever vegetables someone happened to have on hand. Summery, delicious meal!
Gabe
Absolutely delicious. I love when a vegetarian meal can feel this decadent. The cilantro I had went bad and I used my last lime yesterday, so this became a spicy arugula pesto with lemon. Would agree that 1/2 a cup of oil is more than enough, but if you use as much sauce as I do, you may want to double the recipe. I doubled the spices which may be a personal preference. Didn’t use any okra and didn’t miss it. Whatever you do, don’t skip the corn. That sweet crunch was very welcome.
Emma
I found the spices weren’t flavourful enough, so I nearly doubled them
Annie
My partner loved this recipe! Great amount of spice and flavor. I didn’t have all the ingredients so I substituted farro for couscous and left out the peppers and okra. I also omitted some of the more extraneous steps. It’s a very forgiving recipe that lends itself to many variations. So delicious! I’ll definitely be making it again.
Laurel W
The perfect solution to the conundrum of what to serve at a late summer luncheon for vegan guests. I did the pesto in advance as well as some of the chopping, so throwing together the morning of was a snap. Some vegan recipes can be a little drab visually, but this one was stunning. (To ensure brightness, take care not to overcook). Steaming the couscous is worth the extra step. NYT’s “Best Gazpacho” makes a great starter to go with.
Lilli
Replaced the okra with green beans and it was delicious! Also used a jalapeno instead of chiles because I had one on hand and I thought it was a good substitute.
katie
Delicious, and with the addition of the cilantro sauce, very pretty. Would be wonderful for a vegetarian dinner party. I didn’t have okra so I subbed snow peas from our garden. Next time I’d like to serve with naan. Don’t forget to serve with lime halves, the juice really perks up the stew.
Lisa
My entire family loved it. The pesto was excellent. Could double the quantity of pesto.
Ryan B
Didn't care for the pesto; the cilantro was overbearing and masked all the other flavors (and I don't usually mind cilantro). I ate the leftovers without the pesto and enjoyed it much more. Also added a generous amount of feta, which worked well.
Sally
Delicious! I used olive oil to cook the corn since I was serving it to vegan friends. Otherwise followed the recipe although next time I will try adding the turmeric to the stew and saffron to the couscous as was suggested.
Claudia
Really yummy dish, but I made some adjustments. I only used 1/2 the amount of oil in the pesto and it came out just perfect. I also ended up removing about 2 cups of liquid after cooking the vegetables, so next time I would probably try it with just 1 1/4 cup liquid. Also used 2 tb. of tomato paste.
Meta
Substituted 1/2 cup quinoa for 1 cup of the couscous and precooked in the 3 cups water before adding to the corn and other 1 cup of couscous - tasted fine and added a bit more protein. Also reduced the amount of water added to the stew to 2 cups and it was plenty. Glad I took everyone's advice and reduced the oil for the pesto to 1/2 cup. Finally, substituted yellow squash for zucchini because that's what I had on hand. No bad for a vegan recipe. My husband liked it.
Claudia
I had to take out two cups of the liquid after cooking the vegetables so next time will only use one cup in the first place. Also only used 1/2 cup of oil in the pesto, which seemed just fine.
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