Recipe: Coconut couscous with fruit in ginger mint syrup
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Middle Eastern couscous with hot milk, dried fruit and nuts has become rather trendy for breakfast in recent years, but here it takes on a Southeast Asian twist.
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- Recipe: Coconut couscous with fruit in ginger mint syrup
Cooked with coconut milk and topped with an exquisite fruit salad with refreshing ginger and mint, this is a multicultural breakfast indeed!
serves 6
Ginger mint syrup
- 55 g (2 oz/1/3 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
- 50 g (13/4 oz) fresh ginger, peeled & sliced thinly
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthways
- 1 large mint sprig
- 1/2 small ripe rockmelon, or other orange-fleshed melon, cut into 2 cm (3/4 inch) cubes
- 1/2 small honeydew melon, cut into
- 2 cm (3/4 inch) cubes
- 1/2 small sweet, ripe pineapple, cut into
- 2 cm (3/4 inch) cubes
- 16 ripe lychees, peeled
- 1 starfruit, thinly sliced
- 1 handful of tiny mint leaves, or 1 small handful of finely shredded mint
- toasted shredded coconut, to garnish, optional
- coconut cream, to serve, optional
Coconut couscous
- 800 ml (28 fl oz) coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 370 g (13 oz/2 cups) couscous
To make the ginger mint syrup, put the sugar and 500 ml (17 fl oz/ 2 cups) water in a small saucepan and stir over high heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the ginger, vanilla bean and mint sprig and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15–20 minutes, or until slightly syrupy. Cool to room temperature.
Combine the melons, pineapple, lychees and starfruit and strain the syrup over the top. Stir in half the mint, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
When ready to serve, make the coconut couscous. Put the coconut milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat, immediately stir in the couscous and cover with a lid. Allow to sit for 3 minutes for the coconut milk to be absorbed, then fluff up the grains with a fork.
Serve the couscous immediately in a wide, shallow bowl topped with the fruit and drizzled with the syrup. Garnish with the remaining mint and the toasted coconut, if using. Serve with a small jug of coconut cream on the side for drizzling over if desired.
NOTE: If the couscous is left sitting you will need to add extra coconut milk when you reheat it so it is not too dry.
Variation: The couscous is also great simply served with fresh mango chunks or banana slices, perhaps with a little coconut cream drizzled over the top.
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