Spiced mince with couscous

Adding dried fruit, fresh mint and warm spices to savoury dishes is typical of North African cooking. Vegetarian mince replaces meat in this recipe

  • Ready in 35-40 minutes, plus draining time
  • Serves 4
  • Easy

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 588
  • fat 16g
  • saturates 2g
  • carbs 79g
  • sugars 0g
  • fibre 10g
  • protein 28g
  • salt 0.69g

Ingredients

  • 2tbsp sunflower oil
  • 2 medium onions , roughly chopped
  • 350g vegetarian mince
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 100g ready-to-eat dried apricots , quartered
  • 400ml vegetable stock
  • 280g couscous
  • 2 lemons, zested
  • 4 tbsp chopped fresh mint
  • 50g unsalted cashews, toasted under the grill

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan, add the onions and cook gently for 5 mins until they soften. Stir in the vegetarian mince, adding salt and pepper to taste, and spices (unlike meat and poultry, vegetarian mince doesn’t need to be browned), then add the apricots and stock. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and cook gently for 10-15 mins.

  2. Meanwhile, make up the couscous following the packet instructions – it will take about 450ml boiling water to give it a nice fluffy texture. Fork through the lemon zest and mint. Season to taste.

  3. Spoon the couscous onto serving plates, pile the vegetarian mince mixture on top and scatter with the cashews.

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