Scale
Ingredients
- 2–1/2 cups butternut squash, diced (the smaller you cut them, the faster they’ll cook)
- 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 dried red pepper, crushed (or 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes)
- 1 cup Israeli couscous
- 1–1/4 cup warm water
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil, to garnish (cilantro or mint would work well too)
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil. Add the onions and cook on medium-high heat until they begin to brown slightly.
- Add the chickpeas, squash, cumin, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper. Stir well to incorporate all of the ingredients. Cook on medium heat until the squash is browned and almost fork tender, stirring every now and then (my squash were cut relatively big, so this took about a half hour — smaller-cut squash will cook faster).
- Add the water and turn up the heat. When the water begins to boil, add the couscous. Turn the heat to medium, cover the pot and let the couscous cook for 8 minutes, or until the water is fully absorbed. Add the lemon juice and basil and toss.
Notes
- You could add anything to this recipe, including olives, toasted pine nuts (the original recipe calls for sliced almonds), raisins if you’re not averse or perhaps some crumbled feta. You could also swap smoked paprika for the crushed red pepper if you want more smoky, cayenne if you want more spicy, toast some cumin seeds with the oil (or even some sage leaves) or add some garlic in with the onions. I’d like to try tossing the squash with some oil and the spices and roasting it to really bring out its flavor, but for now, this version is perfect.