Couscous with Veggies / Upma / Savoury Meal

Recipe Cooked , Photographed and Written by Praveena

PrepTime:10 mins CookTime:10 mins Cuisine:Indian

This whole platter of couscous upma / savoury meal, can be eaten during anytime of the day, as its so nutritious & tasty. I do pack this quick,Vegan meal for my kids lunch box as well. My kids loved having it with their salad and fruit as shown in the last pic at the end.

Health Benefits of Couscous

Couscous is sugar- and fat-free. Couscous has carbohydrates and is rich in fiber but it has lesser calories than white and brown rice. Its is rich in vitamins and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, selenium, potassium, magnesium, fol-ate among others. With all these nutrients, it will strengthen your bones, muscles, and immune system. Eating couscous can also help improve your blood circulation (Info from internet).

Before starting to cook, don’t forget to see the Tips mentioned in the end.

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My Chutneys / dips recipes collection here⇒ Chutney / Pachchadi / Dip

Ingredients:

Couscous – 1 large cup/ bowl
Mixed Vegetables(chopped) – ½ of large cup/ bowl
Hot Boiling Water – 2 large cups/ bowls
Ginger – 1 tiny piece
Salt – 2 teaspoon
Cooking Oil – 3 tablespoons
Dry Red Chillies – 2
Green Chillies – 5
Curry Leaves – 5 to 6
Onion – 1 large

Ingredients for Tempering:

Mustard seeds / Aavalu – ¼ teaspoon
Jeera / Cumin Seeds – ½ teaspoon
Turmeric powder / Pasupu – ¼ teaspoon
Sesame seeds / Nuvvulu – ½ teaspoon (optional)
Chana dal / Split Yellow gram dal – ½ teaspoon (optional)
Urad dal / Minapappu / Split Black gram – 1 teaspoon (optional)

Special Ingredients:

Curry Leaves
Ginger
Green Chillies

Step wise pics Procedure:

First, take the Couscous into a large-wide bowl and add the hot-boiling water into it. Close it with lid and set it aside.
Couscous along with water
Slit the green chillies length wise, chop the onions and ginger piece.
Put a medium sized pan on stove top under medium flame.
Add the oil and heat it.
Then,add the ‘Ingredients for tempering’. Saute them until they turn golden brown.
Now, add the red chillies,curry leaves and green chillies to the the pan.
After a minute, add all the ginger and onion pieces.
After the tempering, onions & chillies added to pan
Stir fry the onions and let them become transparent.
Next,add the mixed vegetables and let them cook.
Mixed Veggies added to the pan
When the vegetables are cooked, transfer the couscous (from the bowl) to the pan and add salt too.
Couscous from the bowl transferred to the pan
Reduce the flame to lowest possible,combine everything gently and let it be on stove top for about 5 mins.
Before switching the stove off.
Switch the flame off and serve. Done!!

Tips:

For the tempering, just add the ingredients whichever you have (among the list given).
The couscous is put in hot boiling water for just 8-10 mins.
Its going to absorb all the water and gets swollen/cooked.
Don’t bother if you have added a bit less/more water, either way it would work.
Adjust the salt and spice as per your taste.
You can even avoid the tempering part in case you want to have it as a salad.
You can add any vegetables of your choice.
I used frozen vegetables, if you prefer to use fresh veggies chop them first and then start cooking.

Result:

The taste of this, couscous upma / savoury meal, is just awesome.
I truly love to have it as it is, while you can have it with any side or dressing or chutney or dip.
Check my chutneys/dips here … Chutney / Pachchadi / Dip
Couscous upma / savoury meal served

Kids loved having it with cucumber slices and fruit

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