Vegetarian couscous

Believe it or not, but I do eat vegetarian meals on occasion. I really enjoy vegetables that rarely grace the tables of my fellow Aussie. These vegetables are so flavoursome. This dish can, of course, be made with about any vegetable you care to throw in it. Some cherry tomatoes would be nice. Particularly if you roasted them beforehand, I reckon. Mushrooms would be lovely. Parsley. Spinach. Corn. Chilli. Zucchini. Broccoli. Note that with some vegetables, it'd be a good idea to cook them at least partially beforehand. Too, this recipe makes a large quantity. If you have a small wok, you may need to cook it in two batches. Luckily, the final stage, which sees the couscous and fennel, both of which have been cooked already, come together with everything else is very short.

Ingredients:

2 cups couscous (about 400 grams)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 handfuls of endive leaves, chopped
2 dried chillies
1 capsicum (bell pepper), diced
1 carrot, diced
1 fennel bulb, sliced
1 tbs whole cumin seeds
1 tbs whole fennel seeds
1 tbs sumac powder
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil
olive oil

Prepare the fennel. Heat some olive oil in a saucepan and fry the dried chillies and garlic. When garlic is soft--about 5 minutes--add the sliced fennel, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and sumac powder. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover and cook over a medium-low flame for 20 minutes. Lift the lid every so often to give everything a good stir.

Prepare the couscous. Pour couscous into a small saucepan adding 2 1/2 cups water. Bring to a simmer over a medium flame and then reduce the heat. Cook until the liquid is absorbed and the couscous is soft. This should take about 6-8 minutes. Make sure you stir the couscous every so often to prevent sticking. When the couscous is done, drizzle a little olive oil over it and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Now, heat a wok over a large flame. You can use a large fry pan if you don't have a wok. Add some olive oil. When hot, add the carrot and capsicum. Stir and fry for a couple of minutes, then add the couscous. Stir and stir and stir. Cook for two more minutes, then add the spiced fennel and garlic--leaving out the dried chillies--and endive leaves. At this point, you'll probably find that a large pair of tongs is handy for tossing everything together. It'll only take 2-3 minutes for the endive leaves to shrivel up, at which point you can spoon this stuff onto four plates, season it with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and dress it with a little extra virgin olive oil. I used white truffle-infused extra virgin olive oil.