Couscous with Chicken

This is my first guest post on Olives-n-Okra. I’m Sherry’s younger brother Chris, the adorable child in the banner pictures above. My sister may pick strawberries this time of year, but I live in the upper midwest where nothing is harvested in February except in grocery stores. Aside from a little chopping, this dish comes together quickly and easily. It’s especially fast if you use a store-bought rotisserie chicken like we always do. (Just don’t use a heavily flavored chicken.)

We’d made couscous before, usually out of a box with a seasoning packet, but it was always a bit … blah. But then we found an article on making roast chicken more interesting, and we took the spice mixture from the “Moroccan” chicken, added some garlic, peppers, and onions, and voila!

Clockwise from the top: cinnamon, cayenne, paprika, cumin, and coriander.

The only other step that takes any time is shredding the chicken.

The finished product is colorful because of the scallions and red peppers.

Couscous with Chicken Recipe

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 4 -5

Author: olives-n-okra

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Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 shallots diced
• 2 scallions chopped
• 1 scallion chopped (white part only)
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• ½ red pepper diced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon paprika Hungarian sweet
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1¾ cup chicken stock
• 1½ cup couscous
• 2 cooked chicken breasts shredded (skin removed)
• ¼ cup golden raisins
• ¼ cup pine nuts toasted
• ¼ cup cilantro chopped (or green part of 1 scallion, chopped)

Instructions

• Heat oil in large pan over medium heat. Add shallots, scallions, garlic, and red pepper and cook until soft (about 3 minutes).
• Stir in salt, cumin, coriander, paprika, cayenne, and cinnamon. Add stock and bring to a boil.
• Remove from heat and stir in couscous. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed.
• Fluff couscous with a fork and toss with chicken and remaining ingredients. Serve immediately.