It’s Couscous Day!
Now for the never-ending internet applause pasta enjoys and for all the fiber-first lists quinoa finds itself at the top of, couscous definitely appears to be an overlooked cousin in this regard. Essentially, couscous is a type of pasta, made of semolina. Perfect for salads, as a flavour-packed side dish and even for layering on crackers, couscous’ reputation is both bogged and boosted by the fact that it’s malleable, may be a little too much. This recipe however, heroes the couscous into the main character, and if we’re talking fritters, we gotta add a desi twist to it. So lo and behold these couscous tikkis.
Couscous tikkis
Ingredients: Pearl couscous – 1/2 cup, peeled and boiled potato – 1 medium, chopped onion – 1 small, minced parsley – 2tbsps, finely chopped dill leaves – 1tbsp, ginger-garlic paste – 1tsp, red chilli flakes – 2tsps, Za’atar – 1.5tsp, lemon juice – 1tbsp, salt to taste, maida – 1tbsp, water – 1/4 cup, bread crumbs – 1/2 cup, oil for shallow frying
Method: Cook the couscous and let it cool down completely. Once add cooked potato, onion, dill, parsley, za’atar, chili flakes, ginger garlic paste, lemon juice and salt and mix into a sticky dough of sorts. Grease your hands with oil and scoop the dough into 8 balls and proceed to flatten them into discs. Separately, mix the maida and water to form a slurry of sorts. Dip each patty in this batter and then coat evenly with breadcrumbs. Once done, place the tikkis in a single file on a baking sheet and refrigerate for 2 hours. Once done, heat oil in a pan and shallow fry on all sides till uniformly golden brown. Drain excess oil and serve with your choice of dip.
Craving a slightly more international punch besides just the couscous? A Maya’s Kitchen recipe suggests adding crumbled feta cheese and mint leaves to the mix. That’s the superpower of couscous — it absorbs any and all flavours effortlessly.
(recipe from Tomato Blues)
Crispy couscous on the menu for the evening then?