I made up this recipe for Moroccan Couscous Soup after seeing a couple of different recipes that used couscous as the base for a soup flavoured with harissa. Basically I emptied the fridge and pantry of all the things that needed to be used up and tossed them in the soup. You can follow this recipe, or use it as a loose guide for your own fridge cleaning soup. Just add more stock or water depending on how thick you want your soup, or if the couscous really swells up during the cooking process.
I’ve decided that I like couscous much better in soup than pasta because it holds its shape a lot better, especially when the soup is reheated, and adding couscous makes the soup making process a lot faster too. The harissa (my new favourite condiment again since we just got a new jar) adds a nice spicy zing to the soup, so you can add as little or as much as you want. This recipe makes enough for 6 bowls of soup at 97 cents per serving.
Moroccan Couscous Soup
glug of olive oil
2 medium zucchini, halved and sliced into 1/2 inch slices
4 green onions, thinly sliced including the green tops
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 14-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
small jar of marinated artichoke hearts
1 cup couscous
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon harissa, plus more to taste
salt and pepper
Heat up the olive oil in a large pot and saute the zucchini and green onions over a medium heat. When they have softened, add the stock and the remaining ingredients minus the parsley, salt, and pepper. Bring the soup up to a quick boil and then reduce the heat and let everything simmer uncovered for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the couscous is fully cooked. If the soup is too thick, add some extra water or stock until you get the desired consistency. Taste the soup and add more harissa if needed, then season with salt and pepper. Throw in the chopped parsley at the last minute and serve.
If you have leftovers, you might need to add some extra water when you reheat it because the couscous absorbs a lot of the soup liquid when it is in the fridge.
