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Cardamom Couscous
u 1 tablespoon olive oil
u 1/2 medium onion, chopped
u 3 cardamom pods
u 1 teaspoon ground cumin
u 2 cups Israeli couscous
u 4 cups water or vegetable broth
u Salt, to taste
Heat oil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add onions, cardamom pods and cumin and sauté 3 minutes to soften.
Add couscous and sauté, stirring often to coat with oil and spices. Add 1 cup water and stir to combine with couscous. Cook, stirring often, until liquid is absorbed.
Continue to add 1 cup liquid at a time and simmer, stirring often, until all liquid is absorbed and couscous is tender.
Serves 4.
Per serving: 329 calories, 14 percent calories from fat, 5 g total fat, 0.49 gram saturated fat, no cholesterol, 67 g carbohydrates, 11 g total fiber, 1 g total sugars, 56 g net carbs, 11 g protein, 9 mg sodium.
Curried Spring Vegetables with Cardamom Couscous
Try using ginger and garlic paste, available in the produce section of most supermarkets. Although it looks like a lot of ingredients, they are mostly thrown into a pot and simmered. You can add any spring vegetables to this dish, such as zucchini, snap peas or green beans.
u 1 tablespoon olive or peanut oil
u 1 medium onion, chopped
u 1 cinnamon stick
u 3 bay leaves
u 4 cloves
u 3 cardamom pods
u 2 teaspoons curry powder
u 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
u 1 tablespoon minced peeled ginger root
u 2 cloves garlic, minced
u 2 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2-inch thick
u 2 cups chopped broccoli florets
u 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
u 1 cup shelled peas or frozen peas
u 1/2 cup water or vegetable broth
u Salt, to taste
u 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
u Cardamom Couscous (recipe at top of page, right)
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom, curry, jalapeños, ginger and garlic. Sauté until onions start to brown. Add carrots, broccoli and red peppers.
Continue to saute 4 to 5 minutes until vegetables become tender. Add peas and water or broth and stir with wooden spoon to remove any browned bits from bottom of pan. Continue stirring and cooking 2 minutes. Season with salt; add cilantro. Serve over Cardamom Couscous.
Serves 4.
Per serving: 121 calories, 31 percent calories from fat, 4 g total fat, 0.61 g saturated fat, no cholesterol, 18 g carbohydrates, 6 g total fiber, 7 g total sugars, 12 g net carbs, 5 g protein, 97 mg sodium.

Accent

Little-used cardamom is undervalued; try it, then transform your kitchen

By Steve Petusevsky
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.19.2006
I sip a cup of steaming tea and the intense perfume of cardamom fills the air. I think about why some ingredients are so foreign to home cooks, even though they are readily available and are laden with history.
Cardamom is one of those obscure ingredients to which nobody pays much attention. The cardamom pod is green, the size of a coffee bean, with elongated ends. It is one of the most expensive spices in the world, although still very affordable. It has been used for culinary, medicinal and spiritual purposes for centuries, although it is rarely found in American pantries.
It is native to India and used extensively by Mesopotamian cultures. Many recipes from Persia, Egypt, China, Israel and Lebanon contain cardamom, and the history of it dates back more than 5,000 years.
Alexander the Great's soldiers introduced it to the European market after returning from India around 325 B.C. Cleopatra had her palace perfumed with the aromatic little pod. I guess Mark Anthony must have been in town.
Although supermarkets typically carry ground cardamom, I recommend buying whole pods. The best place to find them are in natural food stores or Middle Eastern, Persian or Israeli markets, where they are much cheaper and fresher. Once purchased, store the pods in an airtight jar, where they will remain fragrant for months.
Cardamom has a very strong flavor and can be used in many ways. Once you get a taste for this spice, your kitchen will never be the same.
Indian cuisine includes cardamom in curry mixes, and it is often a part of the traditional spice blend called garam masala. I've had it tossed into rice pilaf and sweet rice puddings.
My Persian roommate from Tehran used cardamom in dozens of stews and soups. One of my favorite ways to use cardamom is in tea or strong Turkish coffee. You can buy tea bags with ground cardamom in them. However, if you simply crush one or two cardamom pods and drop them in your cup of tea, it is so amazing and pleasurable. It's pure aroma therapy.
Just this morning, I brewed some strong Turkish coffee with cardamom. It is a fine way to start the day.
Spring is here, so I went to my local produce market and collected some fresh vegetables to experiment with for dinner. I love fresh peas, but you can use frozen if you don't have the time to shell them. While at the Israeli store searching for cardamom, I picked up some bags of Israeli couscous, which has much larger grains than traditional tiny Moroccan couscous. I ended up with a really exotic dinner of Curried Spring Vegetables With Cardamom Couscous. I only wish I had made enough for leftovers.
● Steve Petusevsky is the author of "The Whole Foods Market Cookbook."
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