Bored of the everyday pasta or rice? Want to spice up your side dishes a little? The alternative is a delicious cous cous plate which can go extremely well with most stews, sauces and steamed vegetables. But the questions is: how to cook cous cous? Originally a North African dish, cous cous has become part of many traditional Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Jewish cuisines along the centuries. Since it's made of semolina wheat, it's considered not only delicious, but also very healthy too, giving a special, exotic touch to any normal meat dish you would prepare. 

If you are in doubt regarding how to cook cous cous, first you should know that the genuine dish takes quite a lot of time to cook, and that there is a special food steamer created particularly for cous cous. If you want the real treat, buy a steamer like that, which consist of two parts: a bigger lower pot where you put the meat you want to cook, while over that comes a strainer-like smaller pot, which can hold the cous cous or vegetables to stew in the delicious vapors the cooking meat gives out. Having bought this steamer, you can use it later to other side dishes too, like rice or vegetables, it saves a lot of energy by using the heath which was created by the boiling pot underneath.

But like most things having a history, cous cous has also been changed and improved in time. The pack you can buy probably at your Arabian or Kosher food store won't need long hours to prepare. Most packages contain a pre-steamed, instant variant with a helpful instruction on how to cook cous cous. For this you don't need to have a steamer, only a saucepan, a bowl, cup measure, water and salt (and pepper, if you like). Measure for 1 cup of cous cous 1 and 3/4 cups of water. Pour the water in the saucepan, add salt and bring it to boil. When boiling, take it off the stove, put the cup of cous cous in the bowl and pour the water over it. Stir them together, cover the bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until the cous cous has absorbed all the water. Uncover it, fluff it with a fork, and serve warm for a meat side dish or cold for ingredient in a salad. For added flavor you can use chicken or beef stock instead of water, or put a spoon of olive oil into the water.

Good appetite!