Spicy Couscous with potatoes and nuts (bateta couscous)

It was Sunday morning and I wanted to make a quick and easy brunch. I often make bateta pawa for brunch but thought I would use the same recipe but use couscous instead of pawa (flaked rice). I got introduced to couscous by my son. He told me that he often takes a mixture of couscous and boiled vegetables for his lunch when he is at Uni but finds it quite bland so we tried this recipe and managed to come up with ideas to spice up his lunch too!!

Ingredients for 4 servings: 

1 medium sized potato diced
¼ cup sweetcorn (I used tinned sweetcorn)
1 grated onion
handful of almonds and peanuts
2-3 chopped green chillies
1 cup of couscous
1 tsp salt
½ turmeric
1-2 tbl lemon juice
1 tsp sugar (optional)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds or cumin seeds
A few curry leaves, coriander and chilly powder for garnishing (optional)

 Method 

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add mustard seeds to it.

2. Once the popping stops, add the onions, green chillies, nuts and stir.

3. Add the salt, turmeric and sugar.

4. Cook the onions for a couple of minutes.

5. Now add the diced potatoes and sweetcorn and cook this until the potatoes soften. This should take about 5-7 minutes.

6. Whilst the potatoes are cooking, soak the couscous in room temperature water. For one cup of couscous, you will need two cups of water. The water will get absorbed by the couscous and within two minutes - the couscous will swell up and look cooked.

 7. Once the potatoes are cooked, add the couscous to the mixture. Using a large pronged fork, lightly mix in the couscous so that it fluffs up and blends in and takes the flavour of the spices in the potatoes and sweetcorn.

8. Add the lemon juice, sugar, coriander and curry leaves and allow the mixture to cook on a low heat for a couple of minutes. If it looks too dry, just add a couple of tablespoons of water to it. 

9. Sprinkle some chilly powder to the spicy couscous and serve it hot with plain yogurt.

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Spicy Buckwheat Pancakes

I was sent some samples from Orgran who manufacture gluten free food products such as gluten free pasta, bread mixes, cake mixes, snacks and baking products. All their products are Gluten Free, Wheat Free, Dairy Free, Egg free, Yeast Free, GMO Free and Vegan.   I used Orgran Buckwheat Pancake mix to make some spicy pancakes a bit similar to Gujarati pudlas. Buckwheat is not a grain but a fruit seed and part of the rhubarb family of plants.  This link  gives you more information about Buckwheat. 

Ingredients for 5 pancakes:

½ cup buckwheat pancake mix

1 small onion -grated

1 fresh green chilly chopped into small pieces

small bunch of freshly chopped coriander

small piece of grated ginger

2 gloves of garlic minced using a garlic press

½ tsp. salt

pinch of turmeric

2-3 tbls oil

1.  Transfer the pancake mix into a mixing bowl.  Add the onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies, coriander, salt, turmeric to the pancake mix.  

2. Add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil to the mixture and mix it all using a spoon.

3.  Add half a cup of water to the mixture and stir.

4. This water should be enough but if you feel that the mixture is thick and you can a couple of tablespoons of water.

5. Grease and heat a non stick frying pan with oil.  Rub off the excess oil using a kitchen paper.  Pour in a small ladle of the pancake mix and using a tablespoon, spread it into a circle.

6. Once the little air bubbles start to appear, it should be easy to turn the pancake over.  If the pancakes feel dry, you can add a couple of drops of oil to allow them to brown.

7.  Cook until golden brown on both sides. Finish making all the pancakes in the same manner. I didn't need to add much oil to the pancakes and they cooked fine and tasted great too.

8.  Serve it hot with your favourite sauce.

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