Did you think cous cous was a grain?

[Yourethebeerthief]

Colleague eating one of those mug shot packets at work (in boiling water not straight from the packet!)

I am mad for cous cous and suggested it as a similarly easy option, especially if you bring a salad with some chicken/tuna/feta to add to it. She didn't realise that cous cous just needed boiling water added and thought you had to cook it on a hob. She also thought it was a grain rather than a pasta.

I asked around and about half the people I've asked also thought it was a grain.

Maybe it doesn't feature as much in other people's diets so they didn't realise, but I'm honestly mad for it and think it's superior to other pasta. I eat it about 2 or 3 times a week in different ways as I love how simple it is. But I'd also happily eat it plain with a knob of butter and a little garlic 🤤

Anyone else getting pasta makers and rice cookers popping up in the adverts on this thread! 😁

Cous cous is a load is small granules of semolina.

What is semolina? It’s the name given to coarsely milled durum wheat.

What is wheat? It is a grain.

Pasta is made from durum wheat, or from flour & eggs. Cous cous is predominantly the durum wheat itself. Technically speaking, it is a grain.

@soupfiend I think I've seen you on the weight loss chat getting stressed about protein foods before.

Tbf, a lot of us aren't part of the current diet fad (protein obsession) and live quite happily with protein coming from lower quality sources than chicken breast (which I hate) and fish (which I'm avoiding during my pregnancy).

Well by that token you woulds say flour is a 'grain', its just been milled

But flour is made from a grain

Semolina is made from a grain

Semolina is processed/steamed wheat

Its swings and roundabouts to some degree

Also we get the names of products confused with the names of dishes

Couscous is a dish, the item is semolina (its never spoken of as semolina though)

Just like polenta is a dish, the item is cornmeal

Over time the terms become interchangable and then misnamed out of habit/cutural norm

Beg pardon?

Im simply correcting a mistake.

'stressed about proteins'!!

(that bloody tuna)

@soupfiend while I know there’s carb in pulses, I do think of something like a bean chilli as being a complete meal. Are you saying there’s something wrong with pulses, or just that people should remember they are also carbs?

I still go by the two out of three rule - grains, pulses and dairy.

I first came across cous cous when I was on holiday with an ex boyfriend well over 35 years ago. We were on a desert trip with lunch included and we had lamb and cous cous
For a long time I could only get it from health food shops.
I don't use it much these days as I prefer farro, freekah and barley but I still use cous cous for some puddings or as an alternative to rice from time to time.

Not sure why this is causing some consternation!!

I had a very nice chickpea curry and my current new obsession freekah (still dont know how you say it) for tea.

Im correcting someone for saying lentils/chickepas are 'proteins', they're not, thats all

Bean chili is also one of my regulars, that is my whole meal, unless I decide to bulk it out with bulgar/rice or whatever

No wonder i hate couscous, I hate all pasta meals too unless lasagna. I thought it was a type of "old" rice, like spelt is "old" wheat.

Never had quinoa - what is that like in taste and texture?

Semolina?! We used to have it in slop form at school!

Oh good. Glad I’m not needing to re categorise my pulses!

I must try freekah. I’ve heard of it, that’s about it.

I’ve just added bulgar nd couscous to my online shop and am flirting with quinoa… must stop reading!

I always have to stop and double think about cous cous v quinoa, especially because I have a house full of coeliacs and so I'm very nervous about getting it wrong.

But cous cous is basically semolina isn't it? So it doesn't cross my threshold. Not sure if I had realised it counted as pasta.

I only learned it wasn't a grain very recently when I bought some giant cous cous and Googled to see what the 'plant' looked like 🤣

It's not a grain but it's not really pasta either.

Couscous is not a grain but not pasta either, it’s from wheat the same as pasta but it doesn’t mean that couscous is pasta itself.

@Instantcustard great minds…

Thank you! I had a strong instinct this cannot be really pasta.

We do eat it a lot though, OP. Dc can be food fussy but loves couscous with tinned mackerel/ tuna.

@soupfiend you don't use penne pasta for a tagine do you? You swap it for other grains not just any carb.

Lots of people are surprisingly thick.

It's not pasta. It's couscous. Couscous is made from semolina, which is the coarsest fraction of processed durum wheat. The same durum wheat is also used to make pasta. So couscous and pasta are different types of processed wheat grain.

It's misleading to say it's a pasta. It's made from semolina yes but it's no more a pasta than that semolina pudding you used to get at school dinner with the jam mixed in.

I treat it like a grain the same I would bulgar wheat but just cook it differently.

Semolina. Neither pasta nor grain, but I'd never classify it as pasta.

Either way, I hate it. Dry and bland.

I find it disgusting and won't touch it whatever its origin.

Cous cous is pasta

I love it too OP, and often buy a turmeric/honey cous cous salad from the supermarket, and yes I like it more than other pastas, especially the pearl variety.