Indo-Israeli Couscous

June was a busy month here. We went up to Berkeley for a conference and, more importantly, ate some amazing food: Chez Panisse, of course; Venus, at 54 Mint Plaza in San Francisco, we ate some amazing pasta. On the drive back home, we stopped at Andersen's in Santa Barbara. We froze some of the pastries (so not vegan), and we just finished the last one with dinner tonight.

Speaking of dinner, tonight I decided I'd try a variation on my mother in-law's recipe for poha (pressed rice). We had some Israeli couscous lying around (it was the Trader Joe's harvest blend), and I thought, "Huh. I bet this could work."

I prepared 1 1/4 cups couscous according to the instructions on the back of the package (boil 1 3/4 cup of water with a T of oil, throw in the couscous, bring back to a boil, then simmer for ten minutes).

I chopped up a large yellow onion

I fried 1 1/2 t of black mustard seeds in 1 1/2 T of canola oil in a large frying pan until they started to splutter; then I added the chopped onion and let it cook for about a minute on medium heat.

To that I added 1 1/2 t of salt, 1 1/2 t turmeric, and about a half teaspoon of red pepper and sauteed until the onions were translucent and absorbed the spices.

Then I added the couscous and mixed everything. To that I added, 2/3rds of a cup of frozen spinach and 1/2 a cup or so of peas and cooked everything through.

I turned off the burner, sprinkled the whole mixture with 1 T of vinegar and 1 T sugar, mixed it again, checked for salt and voila.

It was so good!