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Here is a recipe for a spicy curryfied cous-cous that is really cheap to make, and very tasty, not to mention completely vegan. It reminds me of Nigerian food. Of course, because it uses new-world ingredients, its really a type of fusion food, but hey, I’m a fusion kind of guy.

It’s a simple recipe, and you are encouraged to change it around to your heart’s content. Like most of my recipies, it is not a finished product, but a work in progress.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry cous cous
• 1 and 1/4 cup water
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 bell pepper (any color, but red would be best), finely chopped
• a few tablespoons curry paste (yellow or panang paste would be best, but feel free to experiment with other kinds. The curry pastes from Patak are available in most groceries, and work nicely)
• a little olive oil
• some paprika
• a tablespoon or so of grated fresh ginger

• a chipotle pepper, finely chopped

  Procedure

  First, make the cous cous (aka couscous). I boil one and a quarter cups of water, then add the cup of dry cous cous, cover, and remove from heat. In a few minutes, the cous cous will soak up the water and be ready to rock.

  While the cous cous is going, heat up a wok or large pan with a little olive oil in the bottom. When hot (hot enough to ‘surprise’ the food when it hits the bottom), toss the onion and pepper into the pan and stir it as it heats up. Add the ginger, curry paste and chopped up chipotle. Watch out for the fumes coming off that chipotle, it might sting your eyes a bit. Feel the burn, and keep cooking.

  When the onions begin to soften, you are almost done. Grab that pot of finished cous cous, and toss it into the big pan or wok. Stir it up real good with the onions and peppers. If the curry paste hasn’t begun to coat all the cous cous, add a little more. Once it is fully mixed, add some paprika for color and paprika-goodness, and you are ready to eat!

  Notes

  Almost any saute-able veggie will work well in this. I used a green pepper and an onion tonight, because thats what I had around. You might try bamboo shoots, other colors of bell pepper (red would be particularly good, I think), some squash, or even some diced tomato or peas. Whatever it is, cut it small, so it doesn’t overwhelm the tiny cous couses.

  With a single chipotle pepper, the cous cous was ‘not very spicy’ to me, and ‘a little too spicy’ to Madalene. Somewhere in the middle, you’ll find the truth. Start with less chipotle pepper, and if you need more spice, you can add another chopped up pepper after its done, but while its still in the pan. Taste often to get your spice balance right. Chipotle peppers are usually found in a can in the Mexican area of your local grocer-mart. They are smoked jalapenos packed in adobo sauce, and they are crazy delicious. I’ve raved about them in other recipes.

  The curry paste is a mixture of spices like cumin, cilantro, peppers, tomato paste, and other goodies packed in oil and mushed into a paste. You can get it in the ‘international’ (Indian or Thai) section of your grocer-mart, or you can make your own pastes. I don’t have any good recipes for curry paste right now (if you’ve got one, send it my way!), so I’ve been using Patak brand curry paste, which is pretty common in grocery stores. Any curry paste will be good though, just a slightly different flavor. Note for vegetarians/vegans, some curry pastes contain shrimp paste or diced anchovies or something, so check the ingredients.

  This is a very fast and cheap meal, and is likely to become a staple for me. I made it for a little potluck down the street, and the people got a real kick out of it. I hope you do too!

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