couscous patties.

I was looking for something different to enjoy, so when I was looking through my Vegetarian: Tasty Recipes for Every Day book and found this recipe for couscous patties, I decided to give them a shot.


the recipe
Makes 4
1 cup couscous
4 tablespoons oil
1 eggplant, finely diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 red capscium
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons natural yogurt
1 egg, lightly beaton
oil, for shallow-frying


1. Place the couscous in a bowl. Add 1 cup of boiling water and leaves for 10 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Fluff up the grains with a fork.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan and fry the eggplant until soft and golden, then place in a bowl. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in the pan. Add the onion, garlic, cumin and ground coriander. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, or until soft, then add to the bowl. Heat the remaining oil and cook the capsicum for 5 minutes, or until soft. Place in the bowl and stir well.
3. Add the vegetable mixture to the couscous with the fresh coriander, lemon rind, lemon juice, yogurt and egg. Season to taste and mix well.
4. Using damp hands, divide the mixture into four portions and form into large patties-they should be about 3/4 inch thick. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Shallow-fry the patties over medium heat for 5 minutes on each side, or until golden. Drain the patties well and serve with yogurt.


substitutions
I've got a lot for this one:
-I'm not a big eggplant fan. I chopped up a tomato instead.
-I did not have red capsicum, and I'm not even going to pretend that I know what that is.
-I did not have lemon rind.
-I did not have fresh coriander, and decided not to compensate for that with the ground coriander. It's a strong flavor.
-I used Greek yogurt for the natural yogurt. It's what I had, and it worked fine.


great with
As the end of the recipe suggested, I had one of these patties with a small helping of yogurt, along with a salad.


the review
I liked these. Even a fan of couscous (which I am) must admit that on occasion, plain couscous can be just a little bit too plain. I wouldn't have thought of couscous as a medium to mix all of these ingredients and flavors, but it definitely worked. And I was surprised--the patties actually held together quite well. I wasn't expecting them to be so easy to form together. I would definitely recommend these if you like couscous, coriander and cumin. 

broccoli and cauliflower gratin.

This is a recipe that I was really excited to try. It's from a wonderful cookbook that one of my close friends gave me for Christmas. The book is The Best-Ever Vegetarian Cookbook and it's basically become my bible. I highly recommend it. You'll see a lot of recipes from this book--I'll always let you know when that's the case.

the recipe

Serves 4

1 small cauliflower

1 small head broccoli

1/2 cup natural yogurt

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

2 tbsp wholemeal breadcrumbs

salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Break the cauliflower and broccoli into florets and cook in lightly salted boiling water for about 8-10 minutes, until just tender. Drain well and transfer to flameproof dish.

2. Mix together the yogurt, grated cheese and mustard, then season the mixture with salt and pepper and spoon over the cauliflower and broccoli.

3. Preheat the grill to moderately hot. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top of the vegetables and grill until golden brown. Serve hot.

substitutions

As you'll find out, I don't always have the ingredients that I need, so I make my fair share of substitutions. I still try to stick pretty close to the recipe.

Honey vanilla Greek yogurt instead of natural yogurt

Honey mustard instead of wholegrain mustard

great with

I made this with a delicious Amy's California Veggie Burger, which was topped with a slice of provolone cheese, some spring mix and a little bit of honey mustard.

the review

This has a really good flavor. Having yogurt in the recipe is a really good idea and makes the broccoli and cauliflower really creamy. As you can tell from my substitutions, I added my fair share of honey flavor to the recipe, but I actually really liked it. My problems with this recipe were: I boiled the vegetables for a little too long and then I didn't let the dish bake long enough. So I'll definitely be trying this recipe again, but I'll be making sure I'm more mindful of how long I'm letting things boil and bake. Since those problems were clearly my own fault, I definitely recommend this recipe. It's a good twist on au gratin vegetables. This also saved and reheated really well.