Instructions: Couscous is so tasty quick to make cheap and versatile that I cant understand why it isnt more widely used in this country. I can only assume that people dont know enough about it. It comes from North Africa. It is a cereal processed from semolina and dried and rolled into little pellets; its been around for hundreds of years. You can use it as you would rice to mop up sauces or as a salad or perhaps more classically with a spicy moroccanstyle lamb stew.

When you use couscous you are actually reconstituting it so to serve it hot you treat it in much the same way as steamed or boiled rice. Either pour boiling water or stock on it and allow to stand for about 10 minutes or steam it in a pan with a closefitting lid for 5 minutes. If you are using it as a salad it should be mixed raw with the dressing and a little cold water so that after about 15 minutes the flavours and fragrance of the dressing wilt be absorbed into it (this is how I really like it).

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