Has anyone else tried giant couscous?

It sounds like Bulgur which looks like giant couscous.
Couscous is the tiny pearl which is in the centre of the wheat germ. if it is now a giant size it has been manipuated or is genetically modified .

No it's not Bulgur, I first used it 9 years ago when I was making salads for DD's 30th and my deli sold it to me as Israeli couscous. Lovely mixed with roasted vegetables and a little harissa paste.

No, I didn't know such a thing existed. I make couscous for myself when DH is having rice as I find it far easier to digest. I'm now going to be adding giant couscous to my shopping list. Where did you buy it petitpois?

Merchant Gourmet do it in a packet they say to fry in oil for two minutes before adding water.

?? is it partially cooked then?

Does it look anything like sago or tapioca?

It sounds like something you might find devouring the lettuces in the garden.

Sorry folks, it is probably delicious!

I was a child who LOVED sago and tapioca. I would eat other children's at school dinner. It had to be really fully cooked though, no tiny little "pearl " inside.

I couldn't even put it into my mouth!

Never heard of Giant couscous. I thought couscous is just another pasta product.

Here we go.
Couscous
www.escoffieronline.com/couscous-vs-israeli-couscous-whats-the-difference/

Although the granules look like grains, couscous is actually tiny ground pasta made from a type of wheat called semolina. Unlike other pastas, which are mixed with water and eggs into sheets, couscous is made by rubbing semolina between wet hands until miniscule pieces are formed. The couscous is then dried and later cooked in boiling water.

Israeli couscous
Israeli couscous is also a type of pasta, but consists of granules that are much larger – about the size of small pearls. Made from wheat flour and semolina, Israeli couscous has a ball-like shape and is toasted, rather than dried, after the granules are formed. This process gives Israeli couscous a nuttier flavor and chewy bite that adds an unexpected touch to regional recipes.

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Its nice with all the middle eastern-type flavours- mint, haloumi, hummus, cold in a salad or warm with an aubergine and chick pea tagine. Yummy!

Thank you nelliemoser I know it was a great success and my street cred with the Hackney hipsters was much enhanced!!

Yes, we love the Merchant Gourmet one and discovered it a few years back. We cook it when we do a sort of lamb casserole with prunes and spices.

my Dad had it in a restaurant & loved it, it's a refined starch so off my diabetic menu

Asda sell this I different flavours, I love it

I ve had it but didn't think it was any different to ordinary couscous except it's bigger tastes the same to me

I have - at the WI cookery school and found it fairly repulsive. Much prefer the normal stuff. I think it is because it feels gluggy and I don't like the texture...

I use ordinary couscous quite often but I have to flavour it with lots of things or the ungrateful wretches that live here moan at me. A product that I've found works really well at disguising the flavour of 'cardboard' are preserved lemons. Keep a large jar in the fridge and chop several of those quite small. Gives a lot of flavour. Then I add things like chopped spring onions, fresh coriander or parsley, chopped red chilli. They now tell me it's bearable! It's just so easy though. And I love it with tagines or harissa lamb.

I'm with grandMattie, I love 'normal sized' couscous and eat it at least three times a week as part of a lunchtime salad.
The 'giant' stuff however is awful, I don't like the texture at all, it's claggy!
At the moment I'm trying to develop a liking for quinoa, but it's an uphill struggle

I love ordinary couscous - ideal for lazy last minute cooks like me. Is the giant sort prepared in the same way i.e. cover with boiling water and leave for a few minutes?

I was told to boil it then drain and "dry" it by turning and lifting on a large baking sheet/clean surface with a sprinkle of olive oil.That does away with that soapy claggy taste/texture.

Like normal couscous, the giant variety is basically pasta, i.e. flour and water dough originally rolled between finger and thumb to make what look like grains - a bit like rubbing fat into flour to make a breadcrumb cosistency. I saw a programme on French TV showing ladies in a kitchen in Marrakesh making it by hand and it looked very labour-intensive. I'm sure there are now mechanical processes for this and I suspect the ladies may have been demonstrating this for tourists, though I have no evidence for this. I've been a bit disappointed with the giant stuff - it seems to go stale very quickly, and certainly before ita use-by date, and really only palatable, as others of you have said, if well seasoned to disguise the uninspiring flavour. Yotam Ottolenghi uses it a lot - maybe that's why so many of his recipes have an pff-puttingly long list of ingredients, most of which are spices. I love spicy food, but I haven't got room in the cupboard to store so many individual ones at once, and so many which are hard to find in a small rural town in the Scottish Borders.

Can't believe that so few like this - I use it a lot in salads etc and everyone in my family loves it!
Also, mine never seems claggy - maybe it's because I use quite a lot of oil?
Would always use it instead of "regular" cous-cous if I can. And I also like the wholegrain variety. Have used both for years...

Asda do a nice frozen giant couscous and quinoa, with veggies, which takes just four minutes in the microwave. They come in four individual bags in one big one. Nice for a lunchtime snack.

Hey guys, this is Ralph

Preparing the best couscous can be really difficult at first, It was almost impossible for us to master how to do it without proper step-by-step tutorial from the professional chefs.

I've watched hundreds of tutorials online but nothing beats this simple, clear-to-the-cut video here: dausel.co/r6MYRc

Click the link above and you'll land on an intermediate page, just click "I am not a robot" to continue and you'll land on the best YouTube tutorial video on cooking couscous where it shows step-by-step on how to prepare perfect rice even if you're a complete beginner.

I hope that someone show me this when I first learning how to cook my first couscous, that could save me hours and hours of banging my head on the wall, trying different methods out.

Again you can watch the tutorial here: https: dausel.co/r6MYRc

I'm almost 100% sure this tutorials is going to blow your mind away.

I am a big fan of this chef and he makes it ridiculous easy! No joke.

Hope it helps

Ralph