couscous and taboule

[Patf]

Are they the same? I bought some taboule with raisins in Champion and forgot it!  Can I make some with couscous? I've had it before and there were some spices in it. Does anyone know which ones? Tasted a bit like carraway seeds which I haven't got.  Any recipes please?

[M]

Couscous is made from semolina. Taboulé is, I think, made from buckwheat. So no, they are not the same. But could you use one instead of the other? Good question - why not try it and let us know what happens? What's the worst that could happen....!

M

[Cat]

Tabouleh is normally made with bulgar wheat, but can be made equally well with couscous or what's sold in France as Tendre Blé.  It's usually a mixture of cooked wheat/couscous, lemon juice, olive oil, chopped mint and parsley, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes and toasted pine kernels. 

Here's a recipe   http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/tabouleh_70851.shtml

[Clair]

I used to make it but haven't made any since tasting the one from Lidl! It's really really nice...

I used to make it the night before:

grated cucumber, lemon juice and pressed garlic; soak the couscous or bulghur in overnight; add chopped seeded tomatoes, chopped spring onions, lots and lots of parsley and mint, salt, pepper and olive oil.

An alternative recipe: http://www.marmiton.org/recettes/recette.cfm?num_recette=15832

[Patf]

Gosh - that was quick! Yes I'm going to try it with couscous. I just wonder why it takes so much lemon juice, as that's one of the things Eddie doesn't like. I'll just add a little with some olive oil and perhaps he won't notice. Thanks all- Pat.

[Cat]

You could always try substituting a white vinegar for some of the lemon juice.  It does need quite a bit of acidity to counterbalance the other ingredients.

[cooperlola]

I too, Clair have succombed to the supermarket stuff.   Paricularly good are some brands which come with a tin of oil, veg etc and a separate pack of taboule, which you soak for half an hour or so in the liquor and presto.  Even if you make your own, they're very useful to have lurking in the back of the cupboard for a practically-instant salad, all year round.

[Clair]

I have never tried the ones you describe... but I will buy one and give it a whirl!

I tend to eat the Lidl one in summer, together with their grated carrots, which are the only ones which don't come drowned in  dressing

!

(please, don't start about grated carrots, I know that I can grate carrots at home! [:)])

[Cat]

[quote user="Clair"](please, don't start about grated carrots, I know that I can grate carrots at home! [:)])
[/quote]

Sorry, I'm about to start on grated carrots [:$]  I know we can grate them at home, but I really do like the long, thin kind of squared off grated effect that we get in the pre-packed grated carrots.  Like you I'm not too keen on the oversaturation of dressing though.

I bought an attachment for my trusty Kitchenaid, but although it does make wonderful coleslaw, it can't do the long thin strips.  Looks like I'll have to fork out again for the add-on drums to do the carrots [:(]

[Pierre ZFP]

The shop bought grated carrot tastes soooo much better too.

I keep some packs of the couscous with the tin of stuff as a good standby in the cupboard, I add more olive oil though as I love the stuff.

I always seem to take a tin opener to the tin only to find the other end had a ring pull on it - Doh!

[Clair]

[quote user="Cat"]t I really do like the long, thin kind of squared off grated effect that we get in the pre-packed grated carrots.I bought an attachment for my trusty Kitchenaid, but although it does make wonderful coleslaw, it can't do the long thin strips.  Looks like I'll have to fork out again for the add-on drums to do the carrots [:(][/quote]

If I was so inclined, I could get the long thin strips with the thin grating disk on my Magimix![;-)]

[Patf]

An update: the couscous/tabouleh turned out well. I used a veg stock cube and orange juice instead of lemon juice. Then added raisins and almonds, chopped, and chopped mint leaves. It seemed to improve with resting in the fridge overnight. It seemed a strange way of preparing couscous because usually I make a hot side dish to go with meat in winter. I fry a chopped onion until brown in beef fat ( a little bit does no harm) then use this with beef stock to pour on the couscous. Or you could use chicken fat and stock.

[woollies]

Having been brought up in the Middle East, I only ever knew one type of 'authentic' Tabouleh and that was always made with bulgar (cracked wheat), soaked and then you simply add lemon juice, loads of chopped mint and double the amount of chopped parsley; tomatoes, spring onions and seasoning...call me a purist but I've yet to taste anything as delicious and refreshing any other recipe’s seem to be a bit of a compromise. But what do I know?!

[Fridgeman]

Wollies I must say the perfect taboule is just the way you do it and I do it exactly the same but we must allow people to do there own thing that is the way cooking evolves, the thought of taboule with some lamb cooked on a spit nice and crunchy on the outside and pink in the middle with a nice dollop of thick greek yoghurt with or without garlic and olive oil added