Sicilian Caponata with Whole Wheat Couscous
Recipe adapted from May 2010 Nutrition Action Health Letter
Anna's Cooking Class
Caponata is a traditional Sicilian eggplant dish, usually containing tomatoes and celery as well. It is a cooked vegetable stew or salad that blends sweet and sour flavors.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup whole wheat couscous, dry
1 cup chickpeas, no-salt-added, drained and rinsed (or use 1 cup cooked from dried beans)
2 tsp olive oil
2 organic sweet bell peppers, chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
2 stalks organic celery, chopped
2 Tbsp tomato paste, no-salt-added
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, optional
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tsp sugar in the raw or brown sugar
1 cup vegetable stock or broth (no-salt-added)
1 small Italian eggplant, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts
Preparation:
In a small pot, bring ¾ cup of water to a boil. Then stir in the couscous and chickpeas, cover, and remove from the heat.
Heat a medium stock pot over medium-high heat, then add the olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the peppers, onions and celery, and saute until slightly browned, about 3-5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the tomato paste, red pepper flakes, vinegar and sugar. Continue cooking, stirring often, for 2 additional minutes. Add the vegetable stock/broth and eggplant and simmer until the eggplant is tender, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a toaster oven or in a small oiled pan over medium heat (be very careful not to burn them).
Fluff the couscous-chickpea mixture with a fork and divide into 4 portions. Top with the caponata and garnish with the toasted pine nuts.
Yield: 4 Servings.
Nutrition Information: Each serving contains approximately: 296 Calories, 9.5g Fat, 1g Saturated fat, 0mg Cholesterol, 45.2g Carbohydrate, 8.5g Dietary fiber, 47.4mg Sodium, 9.6g Protein.
Click here for more Rice Diet recipes.
Success Stories From 407 lbs to 267 lbs
"At 407 lbs., I had become really depressed and was really in a bad place mentally. My father came to visit me before the spring semester of my sophomore year, and he told me (again) that he was very concerned about my weight. He said he could also tell that I was very unhappy. At dinner, he made me an offer to allow me to drop out of school and he would pay for me to go anywhere in the world to get help with losing the weight. I had heard about the Rice Diet from an old strength coach at SMU, and so that is the place I picked....
(Now) I don't take any medications and I went from 407 to 267 lbs."
