How to Cook Couscous on Stove

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by: musarratsh
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Word Count: 421
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 Time: 4:46 AM
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Couscous is a popular dish from the middle eastern-Mediterranean region. It is basically granules of semolina wheat that have been coated with wheat flour or other flours. The dish is used in the place of pasta or rice and it is the staple food of many Middle Eastern countries. You could cook couscous on a stove. An important tip on how to cook couscous on stove is that you first need to identify whether the couscous is instant or handmade. This will help you determine the best cooking method and the cooking time.
One of the most popular methods of cooking couscous is steaming it. This is done on the stove over medium heat. This is the most fool-proof method of cooking couscous because it reduces the risk of burning the couscous. However, steaming takes a long time and you must therefore use sufficient liquid. You should not cover the steaming couscous since the condensed droplets will cause mushiness. For the droplets, use a tea towel over the cooking pot. You should check the couscous regularly using a fork. This will also release grains for so that the couscous can cook throughout. If you steam couscous regularly, you should consider investing in a couscous steamer. This will give you fluffy, individual grains. You could also use a colander or a multi-layered steamer. You could steam couscous atop veggies or meats if you want to prepare a quick, hassle-free meal.
Another way of how to cook couscous is using direct stove heat. To do this, you could use ceramic cookware or heavy-bottom pans for even dispersal of heat. When using this method, you must stir the couscous well to ensure that every grain in the couscous is coated in the butter or oil used. Next, add the liquid and wait for the mixture to boil. Use low heat and cover the cookware using a tea towel for droplets and then the lid. You should not remove the lid until all the liquid is absorbed. After the couscous is done, fork through it to separate the grains and then serve. Note that although this method is faster than steaming, you will get lesser volume of the couscous.
Couscous goes well with a salad. The ideal salad could be a combination of lettuce leaves, some alfalfa sprouts, onions slices, and salad dressing. There are many recipes on the Internet. An example of this is adding salt, ground Cumin, black beans, garlic, onions, olives and lime juice when steaming the couscous.

About the Author

This article touched the basics of the topic. I have written 2 articles extensively on this. They are How To Cook Couscous on The Stove and How To Cook Couscous