Vegan Cabbage and Apricot Couscous

Vegan Cabbage and Apricot Couscous

This is a really great vegan recipe for couscous.  It does have just the simple ingredients of couscous, but instead the apricot goes a lovely chewy texture, with the crunch of the cabbage.

I have found this can be a great recipe for a side dish, or you can just have it as your main. It also goes well with a Cranberry sauce (it was more of a cranberry gravy-esqe thing, I don’t really know how to describe it better), I will be posting my recipe for that in due course, and will definitely link back to this.  In the meantime, you can add a fruit syrup or a fruit vinegar to this as a drizzle on top, and it compliments the dish nicely.

If you do not want this to be a purely vegan dish, but instead to act as a side to a meat dish, I would definitely recommend: Duck, Lamb, Partridge, or Chicken Thighs as a meat accompaniment.  However, it really is your cooking, and your decision! Do let me know if you find any wild and wacky meat mains that you have attached to this!

Servings: 2

Calories per serving: 233

Vegan Cabbage and Apricot Couscous

04/02/2017
: 2
: 5 min
: 15 min
: 20 min
: Easy

The sweet and crunch of the apricot and cabbage add some fun flavours to this dish.

By:

Ingredients
  • 3 Cups uncooked red cabbage
  • 8 dried apricots (chopped into a smallish size)
  • 1 clove garlic (chopped into slices)
  • 1 tsp Sesame oil
  • Fennel seeds
  • Berbere spice
  • 1 vegetable cube (or Miso Paste - either work very nicely here)
  • Dried Thyme
  • 55g uncooked couscous, or enough for 2
  • 2 tsp sundried tomato paste
Directions
  • Step 1 In a dry pot, add your fennel seeds and sliced garlic then toast them.  You want the heat to be on about medium so this is done quickly, but not too quickly that it burns the food.  This technique will open up the flavours of the fennel and make it more of an even taste, rather than a burst of flavour.  As well, it will give a lovely texture to your garlic.  Toast these until the garlic is a light golden brown.
  • Step 2 Turn the heat down to a medium-low and add your oil, berbere spice, thyme, and dried apricots and fry them until the apricots are soft, and starting to get a bit golden brown on the outside.  Add your cabbage, put a lid on the pot and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes.  Leaving the lid on the dish will allow the water to come out of the cabbage and be used as a bit of a “sauce” for the rest of the dish.
  • Step 3 In a small bowl, crush your vegetable cube (or miso paste) and the sundried tomato paste.  Mix / crush it well enough so that it becomes it’s own thick paste (hint: if it is giving you issues add a tiny bit of boiling water to help dissolve the cube).  Add your couscous, then add enough boiling water to cover the couscous.  Stir your mixture, and cover with a plate.
  • Step 4 Go back to your cabbage mixture and check on it.  This part really depends on how crunchy you like your cabbage.  All of your other ingredients are cooked, so if you like it al dente, so be it! And remove from the heat.
  • Step 5 When you have decided that you have cooked it enough, add the cooked couscous to your mixture, crank the heat up to medium (not high, don’t get too enthusiastic), and just boil off all of the extra water and blend the flavours more.

Servings and Storage

This dish will keep in the fridge for at least 5 days, so you can make it ahead and have it for lunches.
Enjoy.


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