Ground Beef with Ras el Hanout & Tzatziki over Herb Couscous
This dish includes some middle eastern-inspired flavors, along with a hearty handful of fresh herbs including mint, cilantro, and fresh parsley. The ground beef and onions cook quickly, and the couscous steams in under ten minutes. You can start this dish and have it ready in less than thirty minutes. This recipe is meant to provide roughly 4 portions. If you are really hungry, you can easily increase the quantity of couscous and ground beef. For the couscous, simple steam with an equal volume of stock relative to the volume of dried couscous.
Ingredients
- ½ cucumber, (peeled and seeded, cut small dice)
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- ¾ cup natural Greek yogurt
- ¼ tsp cumin seeds, (lightly toasted)
- 1 Tbsp fresh mint, (finely chopped)
- 1 Tbsp fresh parsley, (finely chopped)
- ¼ clove garlic, (finely minced)
- Zest of ½ lemon
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 2 tsp vegetable oil, (or olive oil)
- ½ red onion, (small dice)
- 16oz ground beef
- 2 tsp Ras el Hanout spice blend
- ¾ tsp Kosher salt
- ¼ cup fresh mint, (finely chopped)
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, (finely chopped)
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, (finely chopped)
- 1 cup of dried couscous
- 1 cup of hot beef stock
- Zest of ½ lemon
- Juice of ½ lemon
Instructions
- Salt the diced cucumber and let the cucumber sit in a bowl and drain off some of its water for ten minutes.
- Drain the water from the cucumber, and combine the cucumber flesh with the ¾ cup of natural Greek yogurt, toasted cumin seeds, 1 Tbsp of fresh mint, 1 Tbsp of fresh parsley, some minced garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
- Taste the tzatziki, and season with more Kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper if desired.
- In a large saute pan, add the vegetable oil and diced onions, and increase the heat to medium.
- Cook the onions for 5 minutes on medium heat, and add the ground beef, Ras el Hanout spice blend, and Kosher salt.
- Cook until the beef is cooked through, or about 10 minutes.
- When the ground beef mixture is fully cooked, remove from the heat.
- Fold 2 Tbsp of the remaining fresh mint, 2 Tbsp of fresh cilantro, and 2 Tbsp of the fresh parsley into the ground beef mixture, and allow it to sit while you prepare the couscous.
- For the couscous, combine the 1 cup of dried couscous in a small pot with the 1 cup of boiling beef stock and the minced garlic.
- Stir to combine, and cover with a tight-fitting lid for 6 minutes.
- Remove the lid, gently fluff the couscous with a fork, and gently fold in the remaining fresh herbs, lemon zest, and lemon juice until combined.
- Serve immediately in bowls, with some couscous, topped with seasoned ground beef and onions, topped with some homemade tzatziki sauce.
Notes
This dish works well when reheated the next day for leftovers. The tzatziki sauce will keep well covered in the fridge for a few days.
If you don’t have Ras el Hanout in your pantry, you can use a Garam Masala spice blend, which includes some different ingredients but has a somewhat similar flavor profile. Otherwise, you can always try to use a blended mixture of ground cumin, turmeric, ginger, black pepper, ground coriander, allspice, and cloves.
You can also buy storebought Tzatziki sauce if you are rushed for time.