When life gives you lemons…make preserved lemons.  I actually bought mine at the store – the stunning jar of yellow lemons with red strands of saffran dotted with black sesame seeds caught my eye.  Preserved lemons, diced up and tossed into an otherwise simple bowl of couscous or noodles, provides bite-size smidgeons of tongue puckering tartness. So teeny though that you’re left wondering what just flooded a corner of your mouth with such a bright burst.  Which demands that you immediately plunge your fork back into the bowl and stuff your mouth with whatever was just in there.

Couscous with Preserved Lemons and Haloumi Cheese

I like to use green bell peppers, yellow corn and red onions for a good crunch-color-bitter versus sweet mix, but you can easily adapt this recipe to include different vegetables.  Haloumi cheese and preserved lemons are both salty ingredients so add any additional salt sparingly.  Also, one word on the preserved lemons – many recipes call for discarding the pulp or straining the juice out then discarding.  I add both pulp and skin (with seeds picked out) and prefer not to waste one bit of preserved lemon.

2 cups couscous
1 package haloumi cheese, diced into 1/2 inch bites
1 small red onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 small green bell pepper, diced (about 1/2 cup)
2 ears boiled corn (about 1/2 to 1 cup)
2 preserved lemons

If using fresh corn, boil the earns of corn then allow them to cool and cut the kernels off of the ear.  You can also use frozen corn.

Next, heat a wide skillet on medium/medium high heat with about a tablespoon of cooking oil and add the diced haloumi cheese.  The cheese will initially give off a lot of water.  Be patient, don’t freak out that something is going wrong, let the water evaporate and then the cheese will start to brown up and sizzle. Once golden brown on two sides, remove from the pan and set aside.

In the same skillet, add the red onions (re-oil only if needed) and cook for about 5-8 minutes until the onions are a slightly translucent pink.  Add the bell peppers and cook for another 3-4 minutes.  Add the corn and haloumi cheese and mix well (if using frozen corn, cook for another 5 minutes or so before adding the haloumi cheese).  Rough dice the preserved lemons – skin and pulp – into about 1/4 inch pieces (try to remove seeds with your knife) and toss in.

In a small saucepan, cook the coucous according to the directions on the box (although I omit the butter because the fat from the cheese and oil in the vegetables are enough to make it unnecessary).   Fluff the cooked couscous with a fork and added to the skillets with the vegetables and haloumi cheese.  Fluff and gently stir everything together.

Serve with a little runny yogurt drizzled over the top or plain.

Other couscous and haloumi recipes you may enjoy:

• Curried Corn and Cherry Tomato Couscous
• Lemon Spiced Couscous
• Grilled Apples and Haloumi Cheese

• How to Make Preserved Lemons – Simply Recipes
• Moroccan Preserved Lemons – David Lebovitz
• Israeli Couscous with Roasted Butternut Squash and Preserved Lemons – Epicurious
• The Secret Ingredient: Preserved Lemons – Serious Eats

Never say never, but I could never cut rice out of my diet.  When I say rice, I’m referring to white Basmati rice.  Not the brown stuff, but that’s okay sometimes too.  Of course, I know that a diet high in refined carbs like white rice can lead to an unhealthy heart.  But rice is so good.  And we barely eat real butter at is.  And I was raised in a South Indian family.  So it’s not really a meal unless you have rice.  Pizza for dinner followed by a little bowl of rice and yogurt just to make it a proper meal.  Doesn’t everyone do that?

South Indian lemon rice is one of my favorite rice dishes.  It’s tangy and tart more so than spicy and has little crunchy bits of nuts, roasted moong urad daal, cumin seeds and channa daal.  Mostly it’s the tanginess of freshly squeezed lemon juice that does it for me. If you’re looking to cut down on rice – and even if you aren’t – cous cous can make for a good substitute.

The Hamptons – it’s the New Yorker getaway.  Stretches of highway are adopted by Sotheby’s.  ”Villages” are dotted with luxe home good stores and couture boutiques.  It also happens to be overflowing with loads of fresh, local produce AND – wait for it – wait for it – roadside farmer’s markets.  It was all I could do to not make Rajat pull over to compare the goods at each one on our drive back.

Amongst the bounty I scored were ears of sweet corn, plump cherry tomatoes, long purple eggplants, a golden orange squash (disappointing – tasted just like yellow squash), green and red bell peppers and local plums.  Two ears of corn went into this quick creamy corn and potato soup.  The other two ears I curried then roasted with cherry tomatoes and tossed with fluffy whole wheat couscous.

First, remove the corn from the husk then cut the kernels from the cob.

Next, make the  curry butter.  Melt two tablespoons of butter and then stir two teaspoons of curry powder into the butter.

Dice a small red onion.  Toss in a mixing bowl with the corn and half of the curry butter and mix with your hands or a spoon until the corn is well coated.  Spread the corn/onion mixture evenly in one layer on a cookie sheet.  I wanted to save time, so I used half of the sheet for the corn and the other half for the cherry tomatoes.

Cut two handfuls of cherry tomatoes in half, toss with a little olive oil and place in a single layer, cut side down on a parchment paper lined cookie tray.  Shower the corn and cherry tomatoes with salt.  Then place in the oven on medium broil for about 5-10 minutes until the tomatoes are lightly browned and melted.  The corn and onion mixture should be lightly browned.

Cook about two cups of couscous according the instructions on the package, but substitute the remaining curry butter for regular butter (add it to the water used to cook the couscous).  After the couscous is cooked, fluff with a fork then gently fold in the roasted corn, onions and tomatoes.  Add salt to taste and garnish with fresh cilantro.  Drizzle with about a tablespoon or so of lemon juice.

Serve hot.  Fed two hearty portions to two very hungry adults.  May not be an accurate representation of serving size…did I mention we were hungry?