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 🤤

The only time I've made couscous and found it delicious was when I steamed it, which was a pain in the arse. Ditto quinoa. The quinoa was fun to watch while it steamed - the waxy skins unfurl in tiny spirals. Since my dinners usually require the least possible effort, I won't be steaming either for another ten years.

I do make lazy (British style) couscous for a snack sometimes - put some in a mug with boiling water, stick a lid on it, and add a flavour five minutes later. I mean, it's crap but better than pot noodles. And can be savoury or sweet.

This thread's sent me down some glorious rabbit holes of ancient grains and Middle Eastern delicacies, though! Cheers, PPs.

I loathe cous cous. It tastes like eating sand. I also loathe chick peas, little bullets of nastiness. And daal, everyone on MN raves about it being a cheap meal. Yeah because its boring and bland! And adding more spices just makes it hot, boring and bland! Haven't even bothered to try quinoa as I suspect it's no better!

On the the back of my packet of pearl cous cous is written:

"is produced from the finest quality durum wheat, milled into fine semolina then formed into versatile 'pearls' of pasta"

Dahl is hardly bland, and doesn't need to be too spicy.

I love all of these foods!

I mean, it's crap but better than pot noodles. And can be savoury or sweet.
Sweet couscous? 😮

If only!

...I'd grow myself a lovely cous cous plant

Of all the fuckwittery on MN, it turns out that people not knowing how basic food crops are processed gives me the heebie jeebies most of all 🤯🤣

This is giving Daphne Moon vibes.

Daphne: Well... in your dream, who was in the shower? Gil. What is a shower? Running water. Who needs water? Fish. What do fish have? Gills! Do you see where I'm going?

Frasier: insane?

I'd pick bulgur wheat over cous cous any day of the week. That stuff is delicious!

Does anyone remember "Ebley"? My kids loved it but it disappeared.... I don't know if it was some sort of small pasta now reading that cous cous is a pasta?!

My daughter told me that she thinks cous cous is something that is always there and can be relied upon.

This has meant that for the last 10 years, whenever we open a new packet I have to buy some more urgently, so that her world doesn't come crashing in

I love cous cous 🤩

But it is made from wheat.. so ..
Grain?

DD was four when we moved to this house adjacent to arable farmland. My mother came to stay and they went for a walk beside a field of wheat about to be harvested.
“What’s growing there?” asked my mother (yes, she knew the answer).
”It’s bread”, said DD, “Well it will be when it’s cooked”!

Mum?

... is that you?

I knew it wasn’t a grain, but didn’t know it was considered a type of pasta. Not sure what I thought it was tbh… But I like it a lot!

The quinoa was fun to watch while it steamed - the waxy skins unfurl in tiny spirals. Since my dinners usually require the least possible effort, I won't be steaming either for another ten years.

@Garlicking - quinoa is possibly the easiest grain to cook! Fry it in a little olive oil, then add water and simmer at a very low heat till all the water evaporates.

The process is very similar to cooking rice. It takes about about 15 minutes. You could probably use a rice cooker if you have one.

So much healthier than any other grain, pasta, potatoes, any carbs.

Me too!

Be careful OP, it is possible to eat too much couscous. I can’t eat the stuff any more, I reached couscous overload around age 35.

Oh no, I have form for this. I've put myself off so many foods by eating them to the point of sickening myself

😃

You know how you rub fat into flour when making pastry, you get a sandy, grainy texture? And you can get the same from pulsing it in a food processor? It's pretty much that, just with wheat flour and a bit of water instead.

Not that I do it, because it's infested with gluten, mind.

Quinoa tastes much better (especially with shitloads of olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and salt added to it with the cucumber, tomato, olives and feta), has a less damp sand in your socks after the beach texture and doesn't try to kill me.

The normally excellent head chef at work didn’t know what it was, when he served it to me as part of my gluten-free diet.

“Sorry, but I can’t eat this as it’s wheat.”
”No, it’s couscous.”
”Yes, and couscous is made from wheat.”

I like it but much prefer giant couscous.

Me too! Sort of chopped up small wheat. Next thing it will be coco pops are pasta too, then weetabix, where will it end?