Tarragon-Lemon Couscous Bowl with Ras el Hanout Seitan
Welcome to #BowlWeek where everything is in a bowl at F&F because
Today’s recipe post is similar to another recipe. This “mother” recipe served as the main source of inspiration because I made a lot of substitutions along the way: I wanted to make use of whatever was left in the fridge before my next grocery trip, and I had some ras el hanout to use up. You see, I have this silly pet peeve: I hate it when there’s less than a teaspoon of a spice in the container. HATE. It takes up valuable kitchen real estate, you know? I’ve been known to cook-up some really interesting eggs or potatoes just so I could use shit up. Ground ginger eggs, anyone?
This vegan bowl is so flavorful and fragarant that non-vegans will be pleasantly surprised and be like, whoa. (I hope so at least.) The couscous in this dish is scented with lemon zest and freshly minced tarragon, and topped with avocado slice, fire roasted tomatoes, roasted chickpeas, and sliced green onions.
If you want more greens in it, feel free to add a little bit of chopped mint and/or flat leaf parsley which will help enhance the ras el hanout. Vegetarians: add some crumbled feta! Omnivores and pescetarians: you can substitute the seitan with shrimp or chopped cooked chicken breast but — I can’t believe I’m saying this — try to ditch the meat and fish. The seitan absorbs a lot of the ras el hanout so you can actually tastes the spices, and its soft texture works very well with the crunchy chickpeas.
Note: I did use two different kinds of olive oil because money (for real olive oil).
For 1 serving:
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 tsp. ras el hanout
- 1/8 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/2 c. chopped seitan
- 1 c. prepared plain couscous
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. lemon zest
- 1/4 tsp. sea salt
- 1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. minced tarragon
- 1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 4 slices avocado
- 1/4 c. diced fire-roasted tomatoes
- 1/4 c. roasted chickpeas
- 1 tbsp. sliced green onions
In a small skillet, combine olive oil, salt, ras el hanout, and chopped seitan. Saute on medium-high heat for about 2-3 minutes or until browned. Combine couscous, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, pepper, tarragon, and olive oil together. Arrange seitan, avocado, tomatoes, chickpeas, and sliced green onions on top, or mix it with the couscous.
