Esselstyn's Potato, Pea & Couscous Hash

A preview to my VeganMoFo's month of Dr. and Ann  Esselstyn's heart-healthy recipes from the book with this simple dish from Ann Esselstyn, Potato, Pea and Couscous Hash.  It was part of a collection submitted to a meet-up page and a few other sites, but is not in Dr. Esselstyn's book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.

Potato, Pea and Couscous Hash - submitted by Ann Esselstyn
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green or red bell pepper, chopped
1 ripe large tomato, chopped
1 tsp paprika
2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups diced all-purpose potatoes (1/2 inch pieces)
1 cup frozen peas (or whole package)
1 1/4 cups uncooked couscous
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

1. In a large nonstick skillet, stir fry onions in broth or any liquid a few minutes, then add peppers, garlic and paprika and cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.

2. Stir in broth, potatoes, and peas. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 8 minutes.

3. Gradually stir in couscous, adding it in a stream, and parsley. Return to a simmer, cover and cook (without lifting lid) 1 minute. Remove from heat and let stand, covered 5 minutes. Gently fluff with a fork. Wait another few minutes then serve hot.

Nutrition Facts Serving Size (250g) Servings 6

Amount per serving

Calories 210  Calories from Fat 5 Percent Calories from Fat 2%

% Daily Value

Total Fat 0.5g 1%   Saturated Fat 0g 0% Cholesterol 0mg 0% Sodium 340mg 14%

My changes:

I didn't have whole wheat couscous at the time and bought the only package of couscous in the entire store, a small box of this brand. The recipe called for 1 1/4 cups, the package was 1 1/2 cups, so I used the whole box. Since then I had ordered a case of Bob's Red Mill whole wheat couscous from Amazon, because I know I'll be making this dish a lot in the future, it was that good!

For the pepper, I used frozen pepper strips. 

I used the whole 1-pound bag of frozen peas.

I used a can of diced no-salt-added tomatoes instead of the fresh. I didn't drain it, and in fact added a bit more water, because of the extra couscous. The instructions don't say when to add the tomato, so I just dumped it in with the peppers in step 2.

Instead of diced potatoes I used an equal amount of the shredded frozen hash browns, because that's what I had on hand.

Also, I had no fresh parsley so I used the dried, again in equal amounts.

This is the aftermath. I made this on a day early in my husband's recovery, on one of those rare occasions he was actually hungry and was willing to try something new. When cooked, I didn't want to make him wait to eat while I tried snap some photos and was lucky to grab this shot after the leftovers had been put away into my 3-cup Pyrex storage container.

If I had made this before his surgery, he probably would have had 2 big bowls of at least 3 cups each and gone back for seconds. Instead, he took a small bowlful, around 1 1/2 cups, and although he ate every bit of it and licked the bowl clean, he didn't want any more that day, but 2 days later he did knock off the entire 3-cup container of leftovers and asked if I had any more - a true sign of a great recipe!