*Couscous Patties*

As i sit here to jot down a new recipe I tried this week, I noticed Oh gosh how long is it here, that I uploaded the last time….

It’s either the short time due to other chores, or one or the other picture is missing to upload and not to excuse but the laziness creeps in somewhere too  :D

So here I am with what I made this week and wanted to share with you all too

The Couscous Patties, easy, yummy a delight even the next day and I felt they tasted like falafel the next day, really nice with a light dip.

Couscous, is a grain from hard wheat semolina flour, and is coated with all-purpose flour to keep it from sticking as it cooks.

It has become very famous in the International  kitchens. And it's not because Moroccan food is suddenly the favorite on top list but  It actually has  to do with a healthy diet for many.

It is said that Couscous is , North Africa's answer to pasta,it is a tiny form of Pasta yet full with nutrition  and cheap in cost to fulfill the required amount of hunger : )

This little grain puffs up in no time and is ready to be served within half an hour

Many of my Turkish and German friends make tasty salad with it, I like the salad too but I thought of some finger food, similar to what I have in my Pakistani cuisine too.

It’s very easy to make, tastes really wonderful, can be taken all over as a snack or on trips and as a small lunch item @ work :)

I have made it the very simply way, you can add any vegetable according to your taste.

I have used chickpea flour as a coating here, we can surely omit that, or we can also use the all purpose flour for a crispy coating, I was making it for a special friend who avoids flour.

I’ve tried to make small videos, they are not the Prize winning ones hihi but I was using one hand to record and the other to work, so I think it’s pretty okay :D

So here we go, we need:

100 grams Couscous

150 ml vegetable stock

1 fine chopped onion

1 big carrot chopped or julienne cut

1 medium  pepper bell any color, red and orange make it colorful

2 tbsp butter

1 egg

2 tbs of curd (Quark) Which I did not add

½ cup of grated cheese ( which I forgot :/)

¼ cup of chopped Parsley (I used fresh coriander )

Salt and pepper to taste ( as the stock is salty too)
1/4 tsp Garam masala
(a blend of ground spices; black pepper, cumin seed, coriander seeds, cloves,cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg)

       ¼ tsp Turmeric powder
½ tsp red chili flakes

½ tsp Cumin powder
2-3 twists of black pepper from the Mill

For the coating i took around 3 tbs of chickpea flour, added red chili flakes and a dash of salt and mixed it with chill water till it was quite flowy, sort of tempura batter.

The videos are step by step the way i prepared them,so hope it will be easy to follow.

-Put the Couscous in a big bowl and pour the boiling Veg Stock on it, mix it gently,cover a lid and let it work

-It will puff up in around 15 minutes

-twist and toss the couscous with a spoon so that it's not sticky and loosen up.

-now add all the rest ingredients and mix all well

I must confess I forgot to add the cheese, I was so into making the videos that it totally slipped out of mind, but actually I din’t miss the taste of it in the patties, yes the cheese has a binding effect and makes it juicy too while frying, so do add if you have it at hand and no harm if not.

-I am no great fan of Parsley so I added Coriander but I’d say do add the parsley as that gives it a special kick in taste  :)

 Add all spices and chopped Vegetable one after the other and mix all slightly.
I sprinkled some Orange/Lemon juice for a tangy taste.

Mix well after adding the egg so that all is equally smooth

I made a very gooey mixture with the chickpea flour for the coating

Fry carefully so they do not break, if you coat with flour they hold on, here i fried without the coating, but the rest i coated so you can see the difference in the following video ⤦

These ↧ are with the coating so you see they are steady and firm :)

The  different color is due to one handed camera lady so don't get confused :D

Enjoy making and having them with Yogurt Lassi as i did :D