Equipment
Ingredients
Aromatics & Base
- 150 g yellow onion, diced
- 100 g carrots, diced
- 15 g garlic, minced
- 200 g jarred roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
Pantry Staples
- 480 g cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 900 ml vegetable broth, low sodium preferred
- 30 g harissa paste
- 3 g ground turmeric
- 3 g kosher salt
Finishers
- 150 g pearl couscous
- 15 g fresh parsley, finely chopped
Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition is estimated per serving. Nutrients without complete source data are omitted.
Full nutrition
- Calories
- 370 kcal
- Protein
- 19 g
- Carbohydrates
- 64 g
- Fat
- 1 g
- Fiber
- 20 g
- Sugar
- 5 g
- Sodium
- 1726 mg
- Saturated Fat
- 0 g
- Monounsaturated Fat
- 0 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- 0 g
- Potassium
- 1040 mg
- Calcium
- 179 mg
- Iron
- 6.4 mg
- Magnesium
- 111 mg
- Phosphorus
- 246 mg
- Zinc
- 2.4 mg
- Vitamin A
- 292 mcg
- Vitamin C
- 36 mg
- Vitamin E
- 0.2 mg
- Vitamin K
- 65 mcg
- Vitamin B6
- 0.3 mg
- Thiamin
- 0.17 mg
- Riboflavin
- 0.11 mg
- Niacin
- 2.2 mg
- Folate
- 33 mcg
- Water
- 330 g
Sources: Aggregated Public Data, USDA FoodData Central
Method
Dice the onion and carrots, mince the garlic, and chop the drained roasted red peppers. Place all into the slow cooker insert.
Add the rinsed cannellini beans, vegetable broth, harissa paste, ground turmeric, and kosher salt to the slow cooker. Stir well to ensure the harissa paste dissolves completely into the broth.
Cover and cook on the LOW setting (approximately 90 C / 195 F) for 6 hours, or on HIGH for 3 hours, until the carrots and onions are completely tender and the flavors have melded.
Thirty minutes before serving, switch the slow cooker to HIGH (if using LOW) and stir in the pearl couscous. Cover and cook for the remaining 30 minutes, or until the couscous is tender but retains a slight bite.
Stir in the chopped fresh parsley just before serving. Taste and adjust seasoning with additional salt or harissa if desired. Ladle into warm bowls.
Chef's Notes
- To maximize the plan-ahead potential, you can chop all vegetables and measure the spices into the slow cooker insert the night before. Store the insert in the refrigerator, then simply pour in the broth and turn it on in the morning.
- Harissa pastes vary wildly in heat level. If serving a spicy brand to children or sensitive palates, halve the harissa amount and serve extra on the side.
- Using canned beans makes this a safe and rapid weeknight meal. If substituting dry cannellini beans, you MUST rapid-boil them for 10 minutes on the stove before adding them to the slow cooker to destroy the natural PHA toxins present in raw beans.
- For extra depth, toast the dry pearl couscous in a dry skillet for 3 minutes until lightly golden before adding it to the slow cooker.
Storage
Refrigerator: 4 days — Couscous will continue to absorb broth; add a splash of water when reheating.
Freezer: 3 months — Texture of pearl couscous may soften slightly upon thawing.
Reheating: Warm gently on the stove or in the microwave, adding 30-50ml of water or broth to loosen.
Troubleshooting
Pearl couscous is completely mushy and breaking apart.
Cause: The couscous was added too early or cooked for too long.
Fix: Cannot be fixed, but the dish will still be delicious as a thicker porridge-style stew.
Prevention: Strictly add the pearl couscous only during the final 30 minutes of the cooking time.
Broth lacks depth or tastes watery.
Cause: Low sodium broth and lack of seasoning, or a very mild harissa paste.
Fix: Stir in an extra pinch of kosher salt and an additional 15g of harissa paste. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Prevention: Taste your harissa paste beforehand to gauge its potency and adjust the quantity accordingly.
Couscous absorbed all the liquid and stew is too thick.
Cause: Different brands of pearl couscous absorb liquid at varying rates.
Fix: Stir in 100-200ml of boiling water or warm vegetable broth until desired consistency is reached.
Prevention: Measure the couscous accurately by weight.
Cultural Context
This stew is a beautiful Mediterranean fusion. It combines the hearty, rustic cannellini bean base typical of central Italian peasant cooking with the warming, complex chili-and-spice profile of North African harissa. Pearl couscous, invented in Israel in the 1950s as a rice alternative, acts as the perfect starchy vehicle to soak up the vibrant, spiced broth.
