Couscous with Dried Fruit, Nuts and Cinnamon is a traditional Moroccan recipe for a classic vegetarian couscous accompaniment with dried fruit and nuts that's served garnished with cinnamon and caster sugar. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Moroccan version of: Couscous with Dried Fruit, Nuts and Cinnamon.
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This vegetarian couscous dish from Morocco is frequently used as part of a celebratory meal. The dish is frequently served as a separate course on its own just before dessert. It can also be served with a spicy tagine or to accompany roasted or grilled meat, poultry and fish. The blend of sugar and cinnamon is traditionally sprinkled as striped on the surface of the dish.
Ingredients:
500g couscous
600ml warm water
1 tsp salt
pinch of saffron
3 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp olive oil
a little ghee or smen
115g dried apricots, cut into slivers
75g dried dates, chopped
75g seedless raisins
115g blanched almonds, cut into slivers
75g pistachio nuts
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp caster sugar
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C (Gas Mark 4). Pour the couscous in a bowl then mix together the water, salt and saffron and
pour this over the couscous, stirring to combine.
Set aside to stand for 10 minutes then add the sunflower oil and, using your fingers, rub it through the grains. Set aside until needed.
In a heavy-based pan, heat the olive oil and ghee or smen then stir in the apricots, dates, raisins, most of the almonds
(reserving some for garnish) and the pistachio nuts.
Cook until the raisins plump up, then turn the nuts and fruit mixture into the couscous, tossing them together to combine. Scrape the resultant mixture into an ovenproof dish and cover with foil.
Transfer to the centre of your pre-heated oven and cook for about 20 minutes, until heated through.
Toast the reserved slivered almonds in a dry frying pan.
To serve, pile the hot couscous in a mound on a large serving dish and decorate with stripes of cinnamon and sugar running down the mound.
Scatter the toasted almonds over the top and serve hot.
