Spiced Nuts & Cottage Cheese with Couscous

Most of my friends know that I have been turning healthy since last 2 years or so. (That was a joke, thought i should begin with a joke.) But on a serious note, there are some healthy dishes like couscous, quinoa, oats that I enjoy eating and making as well. 

These days my breakfast has been oats and not just simple oats cooked with milk, but at times its also oats cooked along with some spices, vegetables and more. 

Recently I had visited the market and came across a pack of couscous and decided to purchase one and told myself, will make something from this and start eating the same and become even more healthy.

Along with the healthy food, I also saw this product by Sprig known as Tangier which is known to give any dish that perfect mediterranean flavor.
So the below recipe or the above image that you saw will consist of this seasoning and some couscous that I had picked up from the market.

So the recipe basically consists of two elements, the base which is the vegetable couscous and the second is cottage cheese along with some spiced nuts and there are some basic ingredients that you will need in order to get this recipe. There is one thing I must tell you, the dish looks quite pretty in the end, so its like a perfect dish that you can make for your loved ones, your partner, will be like a surprise for them. 

Element 1 - Couscous and Vegetables.

Ingredients -
Couscous - 70 gms approx
Butter - 10 gms
Red Pepper - 10 gms
Yellow Pepper - 10 gms
Green Pepper - 15 gms
Green Zucchini - 15 gms
Yellow Zucchini - 15 gms
Salt - To taste
Sprig Tangier Spice - 4 gms
Olive Oil - 15 ml

 Now lets start the cooking. 

1. In a pan, bring about 150 ml of water to a boil which will be used in order to cook the couscous.

2. While the water is on the heat and coming up to the boil, to the couscous add in the vegetables, the salt and the Sprig Tangier seasoning along with one spoon of olive oil

3. Add the boiling water to the couscous and give it a stir so that the vegetables and seasoning is mixed. Also do not forget to add in one table spoon of butter and then just cover the bowl and keep it aside and jump on to the second element.

After about 5-8 minutes, it should look like this, the water will be soaked by the couscous, but just remember to mix it with a fork so that the vegetables are evenly mixed. Do taste it cos I did and also had a couple a spoons as well :P. 

Element 2 - Spiced Nuts and Cottage Cheese.
Ingredients - 
Cottage Cheese (cut using a round cutter) - 4 pcs.
Mixture of nuts (almond, cashew nuts and pistachios crushed) - 30 gms
Honey - 25 gms
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Butter - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Sprig Tangier Seasoning - 4 gms.

1. To the mixed nuts, add in the Sprig Tangier seasoning, salt and honey and mix well. Make sure its combined properly as this is the stuffing which will be used in the cottage cheese. 

2. Take the cottage cheese and spoon some nuts mixture on it and then using another cottage cheese slice make a sandwich. Keep a couple extra handy as they might tempt you to eat while they are in the making.

3. Heat up the pan and add in butter and oil. It should be quite hot so that you can get that nice crispiness and the color on the cottage cheese.

4. To check if the oil is hot, you can touch it with your finger but then dont blame me that you got a burn. (Please do not do that, I was just kidding.) Once the pan and oil is hot, take the cottage cheese sandwiches and put them on the hot surface. 

5. Flip it once you have achieved that gorgeous looking golden color. Get the same color on both sides and then remove it on a plate coz next is assembly time.

Now its time to finish the dish and eat then. Below are all the elements that we have for the plating. I have got some more things to make it look more pretty.
I have sliced red radish, some edible flowers, quartered cherry tomatoes, sliced red chilies and a pretty decent looking plate from my cupboard.

Doesnt it look pretty on my pretty decent looking plate ? If you think, no, then let me know in the comments below, and if you think it does look pretty, still you can leave a comment about what you think about the dish, I love reading comments.

Lastly I would like to say, try the dish out, you will like it, your partner who you are trying to impress will like it and might even give you a tight HUG but for that you need to visit the Sprig website and order the Tangier spice and thats not all they have, there are many products there which might tempt you to order a lot.
So  enjoy cooking and do not forget to follow me on Twitter - @HungryBawarchi
Instagram - HungryBawarchi
Facebook - The Hungry Bawarchi for more food updates and more food.