My Food Week - quick and child friendly veg cous cous

Monday was a case in point, we are normally out with the children but DB was off colour so it required instant food from the remnants of the fridge, and it needed to be ready in minutes.

A veg stew is always so much more amenable to little people with a lift for, dried fruit, sometimes apricots but today some lovely fudge like dates I had in the cupboard. Here is the recipe. I am hoping to do a supper diary and add one recipe a week, so here does with week one.


Veg and date cous cous
Recipe

One onion chopped
A tea spoon of cumin seeds
Half a tea spoon of paprika
Half a teaspoon of ground coriander
Any herbs you like
(You could use garlic but we don't on school nights)
4 spring onions chopped
The left over green bits of leek (the whites used previously)
A couple of carrots
A small handful of chopped dates
Half a red pepper (held back when the previous nights super did to really need it)
A hand full of well rinsed red lentils
A cup of veg stock (I use low salt Swiss Bouillon by Marigold)
A tin of chopped tomatoes
A tin of chickpeas
Chili flakes to add later for the adult seating of supper


To make it quick chop all the veg up front. Add the onions to a pan with some oil (I like rapeseed, good quality stuff is still much better value that olive oil). Stir frequently to avoid burning, add the spices to toast, then add the rest of the fresh veg and stir for a few more minutes. (If you have time doing this over a gentle heat makes sense to bring out the natural sugars - but this was instant food and I had translucent onions, toasted spices and glossy looking veg in just over five mins).
Add the lentils, dates, and stock and still. Taste and add spice as required.

Pomegranate molasses is a great addition, but it is not cheap and can be difficult to track down - I bought a bottle an age ago and use sparingly and it does add an additional layer of flavour).


We were away this weekend, so it was short and sweet. I hope this may be a give a we ideas. As Mums we seem to spend so much time cooking, I love ideas that help enhance my repertoire (otherwise boredom creeps in). I would live to know what you think and if it is worth me snapping my suppers daily :)