How to make Couscous Jollof with meat balls

Couscous Jollof

Couscous Jollof  is one of my answers to expensive Tomato.  These days I aim for dishes that require little tomato like this Couscous Jollof. The pest that has ravaged tomato fruits have caused a spike in price of tomato. The price of tomato has shot through the roof in the past three to four weeks. Preparing dishes like Nigerian stew and Jollof rice have been very expensive venture .  So the inspiration for Couscous Jollof was borne out of a dish that requires much less tomato than for rice. Besides couscous cooks very fast and is what any working woman should have in her pantry .

With Couscous Jollof we are not going to have the Jollof wars which has been erupting from time to time in the West African subregion. Ghanaians battling Nigerians as to who has a superior taste of Jollof rice. At the end of the day it comes down tothe general taste profile of our dishes. Because I have eaten quite a lot of dishes from both sides I find Nigerian dishes have a higher intensity of Umami which means  that is it is tastier. What I find more interesting with the Ghanaian Jollof rice is that it has more red color intensity. I can actually pride myself with the fact that both Nigerians and Ghanians find my Jollof rice quite good. I am not boasting here but just saying it the way it is. Well check out my Jollof Rice recipe and you will hardly go wrong.

More recently when I asked a few ladies about cooking couscous they said they did not know how to cook it. Couscous is very easy to cook. It’s as simple as soaking Garri. Let’s get cooking so you see how simple this is. By the way you can season and roll the  meat balls and leave in the fridge way before cooking. Couscous takes less than 5 minutes to cook.

How to make Couscous Jollof with Meat Balls 

1 cup Couscous

1/2 kilo Minced Meat (about 2 cups)

2 tablespoons diced Bacon

1 cloves Garlic

1/4 teaspoon Ginger

1 tablespoons chopped parsley

Pinch Black Pepper

1/4 teaspoon Dry Pepper

2 tablespoons Tomato/Pepper/Onion blended Mix (boiled)

Pinch Thyme

Pinch Curry Powder

Seasoning cube

Vegetable oil

Salt to taste

 

Method

1. Place minced meat in a bowl. Add the bacon, minced garlic, ginger, dry pepper, black pepper, parsley, seasoning cube and salt.

2. Mix very well and mould the minced meat into balls. Allow to rest for about 20 minutes.

3. Heat about 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and fry the balls till brown, turning gently through out.

4. When meat is brown, add chopped onion and fry till soft.

5. Add the tomato/ pepper blend, curry, thyme and continue frying. Cover pot and reduce the heat so the meat cooks through for about 15 minutes. The meat balls will help the sauce thicken even more.

6. Correct seasoning and take out the meat balls into a bowl.

7. Add the couscous dry and stir fry for about 2 minutes so that the stew permeates the couscous.

8. Take the pot off the fire, sprinkle about 2 -3 table spoons water onto the couscous and allow to stand for a minute to soak up the water. It will look like garri that you poured cold water on.

9. Return pot to fire and stir fry for about 1-2 minutes. Serve with the minced meat balls and some veggies.