Couscous with chicken

(The Nontraditional easy recipe)

Click here for the (The hard traditional recipe)

Ingredients:

1 lb. Couscous
1½ - 2 lb. chicken pieces
2 med. sized onions, sliced
½ lb. carrots, cut into 2-3" x 1" pieces
½ lb. zucchini, cut into 2-3" x 1" pieces
¼ - ½ head of cabbage, cut into large pieces
½ lb. pumpkin or squash with skin cut into 2-3" x 1" pieces
1 lg. tomato, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon cumin, ground
1 teaspoon coriander (ground)
1 teaspoon red pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
Fresh parsley (about 5 stems and leaves)
Fresh coriander (about 5 stems and leaves)

Preparation

€ In a casserole dish, combine Couscous, 1-½ cups of boiling water, 1 tablespoon butter or margarine, and salt. Cover it tit you can use aluminum foil for a cover if you don’t have one that comes with a cover, and let it seat for a good hour or so.

€ In a large pot sauté the onions in 2-3 tablespoon of olive oil over medium to high heat; when the onions are soft add the chicken pieces to brown.

€ When chicken is brown add the salt, pepper, ginger, cumin, coriander, red pepper and turmeric; cook for another 5 minutes then add enough water to cover the chicken and simmer for another 5-10 minutes (be sure not to pour the water directly on the chicken).

€ Add all the slower cooking vegetables (except the tomatoes, chickpeas, zucchini, and cabbage); make a small bunch with the parsley and coriander stems, tie with a piece of string and put this in the liquid while it cooks; add enough water to cover the vegetables and simmer over a medium to low flame.

€ If the chicken has finished cooking, remove it from the pot, and add the tomatoes, zucchini, cabbage and chickpeas to the mixture and add more water at this stage if necessary.

€ Now it is a good time to check the Couscous uncover the casserole dish and fluff the Couscous with a fork make sure every singel grain of Couscous is free from the others they should be fluffy almost bouncy.

Presentation:

Pour the Couscous evenly on a large flat platter and make an indentation or well in the middle, about 3' in diameter; place the chicken pieces in this well.

Using a slotted spoon begin removing the vegetables from the liquid in the pot and pile them up on the chicken; the vegetables should be used to form a cone on top of and around the meat and you may have to place the vegetables with your hands to get them to stay in place.

Strain the liquid from the pot so you have just the stock, gently pour about 2 C of it over the vegetables and the Couscous, but be careful not to wash the vegetables down the side of the cone Pour the remaining broth in a bowl which you should put on the table for people to serve themselves!

These days most Libyan eat Couscous from a common platter using spoons; each person eats from their section of the dish, pouring on broth to their taste, mixing the Couscous with the meat and vegetables. Traditionally, however, Couscous is eaten with the hand.