Veggie Fried Couscous

Do you love fried rice but don’t want to wait for the rice to cook?  I have the solution for you.  Fried couscous!

I’m at work right now, but I’m in a bit of a lull.  Maybe it’s the eye of the storm?  I’m scarfing down some lunch while I can and thought I would throw up this post.

Last night I got home late and had to work more once I got home so Benzo offered to make dinner.  He said “you don’t even worry about it, I will find something for us to eat”, which was super nice of him.  Especially considering we did not go to the store last weekend so we are running a skeleton crew in the kitchen.

I told him that we had some random partial bags of frozen veggies that needed to be eaten so he came up with Veggie Fried Couscous.  Using couscous instead of rice makes this a super quick dinner.

To start you need to make the couscous.  In a small pot bring 1 cup of water to a boil.  When water is at a full rolling boil, remove from heat and stir in 3/4 cup couscous.  Cover tightly with a lid and set aside for 5 minutes.  Do not open the lid!

Next get together any random veggies you have, frozen or otherwise.  Benzo used edamame, peas and carrots.  Heat some oil in a big skillet.  Throw in the frozen veggies first, then add fresh.  Season with soy sauce, salt, pepper and whatever the heck else you want.

Once veggies are tender, add the cooked cousous to the skillet.  Stir to combine.  At this point you can add an egg* if you want.  To add the egg, make a hole in your veggie/couscous mixture in the skillet.  Crack the egg into that hole and let it cook for 30 seconds to a minute.  Then start stirring it up scrambled style until the egg is cooked and little bits are incorporated into the mixture.

Serve!

I thought it turned out excellent!  This was a light meal for us so if you wanted to serve it for dinner you might want to add some extra protein or serve it alongside a green salad.

*Note on eggs – when buying and eating eggs, please consider getting them from a small, local farm in your area.  Local farms treat their chickens MUCH better than big factory farms.  And chickens that are allowed to roam and forage produce healthier eggs than chickens that are cooped up in cages and not allowed to see sunlight or walk.  Chickens deserve the right to act like chickens and shouldn’t have to live in a cage! 

To find a local egg farm visit www.localharvest.org and search Farms for the product “eggs” in your zipcode.

I better get back to work now!  😀