Couscous Fritters... Unexpected Heaven!

These couscous fritters are all you need for a dinner starter. Much in contrast to my belief that couscous can be eaten only as a substitute to rice/wheat, these fritters came as a delight! And, it comes without much fanfare. No big list of ingredients that would require you to make that extra trip to the grocery store. This is a Mediterranean snack supposed to be eaten with hummus, the famous Mediterranean, chickpea dip. But it goes fantastically well with ANY dip, even the modest tomato ketchup, if nothing else is within reach. I have kept up with the original-ness of the recipe, but you can, by all means, toy with it, change it or fiddle with it, to remodel them according to your taste, by adding a little bit of finely chopped onions... maybe a little grated ginger, or red chilly powder... the taste would become a bit Indian, yes, but it can be done.

All said and done, I would say that, Bulghur wheat, in itself, is very flavourful and aromatic, that if you dont want the fritters to be overpowered by spices, it is best to keep to the original recipe.

Ingredients:

Couscous - 1/2 cup
Water or Chicken Stock - 3/4 cup
Red Chilly Flakes - 1 tsp
Butter - 1 tbsp
Salt
Egg - 1, lightly beaten
Cilantro/Coriander Leaves - 2 tbsps or more if you love the flavour
Green Chillies - 2, chopped fine

In a saucepan, bring to a boil, the chicken stock along with the red chilly flakes, butter and salt. If you are using water instead of the stock, just boil the water in the kettle and combine the chilly flakes/butter/salt in a deep bowl along with the 3/4 cup boiling hot water. Add the couscous to this mixture, in a bowl, stir once and cover it with a lid and leave it aside for 5 minutes for the couscous to get tender. After 5 minutes open the lid and run a fork through the couscous.
You have to, actually, taste it now. It should be heavenly, and can be eaten just like this. The buttery couscous with the chilly flakes!
Add the egg to this mixture, it wont get watery, and the couscous will soak up all the moisture and get bound well. Add the chopped cilantro and green chillies. Check salt.
Heat oil in a wok. When the oil is hot, drop spoonfuls of the batter into it, and fry till golden brown.
Drain on paper towels.
Serve immediately.

The pleasure of having this hot is what you would crave on a wet day. Unexpected heaven. These can be reheated in the oven, but it would not have the crispiness of the just-out-of-the-frying pan ones:)

Yes, Unexpected Heaven.