Israeli or pearl couscous tastes more like barley than traditional couscous, with a large, pearly grain that pops in the mouth. It's slightly chewy and utterly delicious.
This Harvest Grains Blend from Trader Joe's features Israeli couscous, along with red and green orzo, split dried garbanzo beans, and red quinoa. It's our new favorite at Trader Joe's, and here's why.
Most grain or rice blends are a bad idea; they look pretty in the bag but need different cooking times.
You're usually left with a decorative but unpleasant mishmash of overcooked and undercooked grains. Not so here; the textures are perfectly calibrated for the 10-minute cooking time. You have soft and chewy couscous, tender orzo, and garbanzo beans with a firmer texture that provides a nice contrast.
And of course the mix of whole grains, especially quinoa, is very good for you. Delicious, hearty, and a meal on its own. Highly recommended! We have a recipe for this coming along a little later today...
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Comments (13)
Mmmm...I love this stuff too. I like to serve it with sautéed zucchini and squash.
Do you doctor up the recipe or cook it as stated on the bag?
Ursula eats this with avocado, goat cheese and black beans. It's a messy affair, but she grins the whole way through.
Just as a historical note, "Israeli" couscous is a marketing term dating from the 1950s, and not a descriptive one. Couscous, including this larger toasted form, is not an Israeli invention but rather comes from the Maghreb, whence it spread quickly to the Arab Levant and also to Europe by way of the Moors and Saracens. Like felafel, Israeli couscous is really a traditional Arab food, but in this case entirely unmodified except in name.
That said, Israeli or not, this stuff is delicious!
I went out and bought this today after seeing it on the blog! Looks delish.
I got this the last time I was at TJ's and made it to go with some pork chops. My kids turned up their noses but I loved it!
Am I the only one with crunchy garbanzos though?
I love Trader Joe's and discovered the Harvest Grains Blend a while back. Here is what I did with it...It makes a gorgeous salad that can be changed up for any time of year.
http://foodcite.blogspot.com/2007/08/final-product-harvest-grains-salad.html
SallyGirl, I got crunch garbanzos for quite a while so I had to keep cooking and adding liquid until they softened up. I made the recipe with Chard posted on this site, and though they gave a 10-15 min cooking time, my grains came in around 20 min.
Except for the quinoa and garbanzos I don't actually see any whole grains in there, only refined flours.
I tried this using the Israeli Couscous with Chard recipe because I had a bunch of chard. I agree with renata that it's really more of a refined flour affair than the whole grains that the name implies. It was an interesting texture and a great way to eat more swiss chard without knowing it! If you try that recipe I recommend leaving out the final dash of balsamic which dumbed-down the yummy flavor. In the future I think I'll mix in more quinoa or something to up the grain content and make this more than a pasta product in disguise. Love the texture and colors.
"Most grain or rice blends are a bad idea; they look pretty in the bag but need different cooking times." Sadly, this mix is no different. You can't overcome the laws of cooking physics, I believe. The lentils stay very hard indeed, they need about 30 min. at least. And by then the pasta is mushy.
This mix worked perfectly as a filling to stuff and bake an overgrown zucchinni from my garden. I made half the bag and mixed that in with some chicken sausage I had already sauteed with onion, parsley, and garlic. I put the combined mixture into the hollowed halves of the zucchinnis and poured Trader's Arrabiatta sauce over. Put olive oil on a baking sheet and then baked the halves on 400 for 35-40 minutes and then sprinkled shaved parmesan and baked that until melted. It was delish and the harvest mixture was perfectly cooked. It was a nice alternative to using tradional bread crumbs and egg for stuffing vegetables. My whole family loved it!
Ren is correct. Wheat flour and macaroni are the frist two ingredients. It is my fault for not reading the label. What I want is true whole grain, whole rice products.