All sorts cous cous for all the family (especially toddlers called Charlie)

Charlie surprises me on a daily basis, such are his whims. His fave supper of Baghdad beef stew, carrots and pasta was recently rejected in favour of this cous cous. He eyed the adults eating it with slight suspicion, then after a little spying, made his move and pounced. Initially picking out the chickpeas, then moving on to scooping up cous cous with his chubby, slightly yoghurty fingers. Even the coriander was devoured. The only sounds from his mouth: ‘yum yum mummy.’

This recipe makes LOADS – a huge bowl to be left in the fridge and dipped into whenever peckish. It lasted about 3 days in this house which just shows how much there was as we’re greedy Bells. It’s not too highly spiced or lemony which makes it a good accompaniment to spicier dishes, Mr B thinks.

Ingredients:

• 500g cous cous, uncooked
• 1 tin of cooked chick peas (You could soak and boil up some dried ones but this was made in haste.)
• 6 spring onions, chopped into rings
• 3 onions, peeled and chopped into rings
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp sugar
• half a pack of feta, crumbled
• 7 mushrooms, cut into 1cm pieces
• 1 aubergine, cut into 1cm pieces
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• plenty of chopped coriander (Less stalks, more leaves.)

Get the onions cooking in the oil and sugar on a low heat in a frying pan. They need about 20 mins to get to that caramelly look and taste. Then add the aubergine, garlic and mushrooms and fry until cooked through.

Meanwhile make the cous cous by taking 500g, putting it into a large bowl and then adding 600ml of boiling water. Cover the bowl with a large dish or plate and leave for 10 mins. Don’t disturb! You need the steam to stay in the bowl. After a good ten mins have elapsed take the plate or lid type utensil off the top and use a fork to fluff the cous cous up.

Add the drained chick peas, crumbled feta, spring onions and onion-y, aubergine-y mix to the cous cous and fork through until combined. Then add chopped coriander and mix through gently, using serving spoons.

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