Couscous--a delectable dish

Couscous is a wonderful dish–easy to prepare and delectable. Its geographic origin as an edible is North Africa; it is a product of wheat, finely ground, sometimes called semolina. I first tried it at a North African restaurant in Paris some years ago.

Buy it in any supermarket or grocery store (I buy the "Near East" brand which comes in 5.8 ounce packages, is available in several varieties as to ingredients, and is very inexpensive ). Prepare it as follows:

–Follow the directions for boiling the spice (which is contained in a separate envelope), then adding the grains, followed by letting the whole thing settle.

–Add for more flavor whatever turns you on. I mix in diced vegetables (green peppers, cucumbers, onions, radishes, and anything else I find in the vegetable drawer of my fridge).

–Add something to spice up the mix (which tends to be dry)–I prefer chili and cilantro, a hot product put out by a well-known Indian purveyor of spices, Patek . Then add something else to moisten the mix–I use Margarita mix for its limey flavor.

Do all of that and mix it well and you’ve got a great meal. After adding the above ingredients, the dish will be lukewarm, which is how I like it–but you can heat it up on the stove top if that is your preference.