Fried Onion Couscous
Couscous cooked in bouillon, loaded with crispy fried onions. One pot, five minutes off the stove.
- calories
- 560
- weight
- 5.6 oz
- cal / oz
- 100
- protein
- 11 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 7 min
- total time
- 9 min
- water
- 475 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Day hike
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Couscous | 1 cup | durum couscous has more flavor than the instant plain stuff |
|---|---|---|
| Bouillon cube | 1 cube | chicken or beef; a vegetable cube works too |
| Crispy fried onions | 1/2 cup | the jarred or bagged kind sold for salads and casseroles |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | optional, from a dropper bottle |
| Salt, pepper, or hot sauce | to taste |
Method
- Put 475 ml of water and the bouillon cube in the pot and bring it to a boil.
- Dump in the couscous and about half the fried onions. Stir once, let it come back to a boil, then cut the heat immediately. Couscous scorches on a hot pot bottom fast.
- Lid on. Leave it alone for five minutes.
- Fluff with your spork, pour in the oil, and scatter the rest of the onions over the top.
- Season with salt, pepper, or hot sauce and eat.
Couscous is not really cooked so much as soaked. That is why it belongs in a pack: one boil, no simmer, no fuel burned watching a pot. The bouillon does all the seasoning work, so nothing else has to be measured in the dark.
The fried onions are the reason this beats plain couscous. Half go in with the water and turn soft and sweet through the grain; half go on at the end and stay crisp. They are also mostly fat, which is where the calories come from — a cup of couscous alone is a light meal, not a dinner.
Packing
Couscous and the crumbled bouillon cube go in one freezer bag. The fried onions ride in their own bag or they go soft and lose the crunch that is the whole point.
Variations
- A few slices of hard salami or dried sausage stirred in at the end makes it a real dinner.
- Swap the bouillon for a curry or tomato powder blend.
- Shelf-stable grated parmesan adds fat and salt for very little weight.
https://www.hikeforpurpose.com/trail-meal-fried-onion-couscous