Thai Veggie Couscous

Another great way to use up that zucchini!  This is the side dish that I mentioned the other day when talking about making tuna steaks.  It's colorful, it's flavorful, and it's super versatile.  This is a really great recipe to know.  I did mine with a Thai spin to it, since I was serving it with an Asian-flavored tuna steak, but you can easily make it Italian, Indian, Mexican, Greek, or any other cuisine you need.  It's adapted from EatingWell.

Thai Veggie Couscous

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

¼ large onion, chopped

1 medium-large zucchini, diced

2 medium carrots, grated

1 tsp Thai seasoning (I use Penzey's Bangkok Seasoning)

1½ tsp salt (use less if your Thai seasoning contains salt)

2 cups water

1½ cups couscous

Fresh cilantro, chopped

Peanuts, chopped

Directions:

Heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion and sauté a few minutes until it begins to soften.  Add the zucchini and the carrot, and sauté until zucchini begins to soften.  Stir in the Thai seasoning, salt, and water.  Bring to a boil.  Stir in the couscous, turn off heat, and cover pan.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Remove lid and fluff couscous.  Test for seasoning, adjusting if necessary.  Transfer to a serving dish, and garnish with cilantro and peanuts.

Makes 6 servings.

Orange Soy Marinated Tuna Steak

This was the perfect side dish for this tuna.  If you can't find Thai seasoning, you can simply use some garlic and ginger.  That would be good too.  The amount of couscous that I used was the same amount that is in the little boxes of it that you can buy.  Sometimes I buy the big jar of it, and sometimes I just grab one of those little boxes.  It comes in a plain variety.  If you don't have Thai seasoning, you could get one of the flavored varieties.  I think they have a roasted garlic variety that would be good.

I love how the veggies and the pasta all cook in one pan.  Easy clean-up!  And I also love how fast this comes together.  Couscous doesn't need to boil, so you just add it to the pan, turn off the heat, and wait 5 minutes.  Easy peasy!

As with changing up the seasonings in this dish, you can also use any kind of veggies you like or have on hand.  Mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, yellow squash, small broccoli or cauliflower florets all would work in here.