I have been searching for pearl couscous for at least four months and finally last Saturday I walked into this tiny shop with al kinds of delicacies. There it was, a whole jar of pearl couscous. To tell you the truth I did not even know exactly what it was. I thought it was some kind of coarse type of couscous. As it turns out it sits between couscous and pasta. I was extremely keen to try it as soon as possible. The tiny store was full of mouthwatering products so I did not only buy the pearl couscous, I also treated myself to a tin of tajine spices. Today I prepared this wonderful vegetable tajine Moroccan style and served it with the pearl couscous.

I must say since I started posting about my cooking experiences I vary as much as I can. Asian, Mexican, Dutch, Mediterranean, I mean to try all kinds of styles and flavors. But the food from the Middle-East is by far my favorite kind of food! This food is one of the reasons that got my started eating plant based food in the first place. It does not only taste great, it is also fairly simple to prepare, especially a tajine. You basically chop the vegetables, add the spices and herbs and let it simmer in the oven. In the meantime your hands are free to do something else until it’s done!

That is exactly what I did here. As you can see in the above picture I took an eggplant, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, dates, cinnamon stick, tajine spices, two Turkish peppers and the pearl couscous. I chopped the vegetables and fried them shortly in coconut oil except for the cherry tomatoes.

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I chopped the tomatoes and the dates and placed those in the tajine, together with the tajine spices, the cinnamon stick, two chopped shallots, a can of diced tomatoes with juice and three gloves of black garlic. Added the stir fried vegetables, mixed everything well and placed the tajine in a preheated oven (180℃) for 30 minutes or so.

I cooked the pearl couscous for 15 minutes in salted water (as instructed) and served everything with some chopped fresh mint leaves sprinkled on top.

The pearl couscous proved to be worth the long search. It was a sweet, spicy, delicious, warming and soothing dish and absolutely enjoyed it!