Helen’s Moroccan Spiced Mince with Lemon Mint Couscous Recipe

Moroccan Spiced Mince with Lemon and Mint Couscous
Food blogger cooked
Moroccan Spiced Mince

This simple dish is not only easy to make but will impress the whole table. I want my steak and chips loving colleagues to experience flavours from across the globe so I found this North African inspired dish on BBC Good Food (my go to for recipe ideas). Situated in the Australian Outback, I was missing many of the ingredients so I took the plunge and improvised! 

For the mince

Ingredients:

2 chopped onions
350g mince – working on a cattle station, our mince is bagged in 2kg so I had to adjust the rest of the recipe to suit.
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon – I only had cinnamon sugar so I substituted cinnamon with all spice
2 tsp turmeric
Salt and pepper
100g dried apricots – No apricots here so I used dried mixed fruit instead, removing the glacé cherries
600ml vegetable stock
Optional: I added a couple of diced carrots for some extra goodness. I pre-boiled these a little so they became sweeter in taste when cooked with the mince.

Method:
1. Fry diced onion in oil and spices until soft
2. Add mince
3. Once mince is browned, add vegetable stock and carrots (optional)
4. Add mixed fruit and simmer on low heat stirring regularly. I used an electric heated plate which allowed me to keep the dish warm in case my colleagues returned home late.
* I like big flavours so added a little more mixed spice, cumin and turmeric near the end for a bolder taste.

For the couscous

Ingredients:

280g of couscous – or more/less depending on the number of people
Grated zest of two lemons – I substituted this with lemon juice
4 tbsp chopped fresh mint – I substituted this with dried mint flakes
50g unsalted toasted cashews – I substituted this with pinenuts

Method:

1. Make up couscous as per packet instructions – I made the mistake of adding cold water but it still worked
2. In a saucepan, put couscous on a low heat with a little butter, stirring through with a fork to break it up
3. Add lemon and mint.
4. Fry/grill nuts and sprinkle on top.
5. Spend ages making it look beautiful before devouring the lot

Serves 4

Any questions, just leave a comment below – enjoy!