Indian dinner 2 - Roasted Veggie couscous with chickpeas and onion pine nut topping

So, this is the other dish I served for Indian night. The spice mix the recipe calls for is a conglomeration of many individual spices. This may be a pain if you don't have them on had already... or a good reason to start a spice collection! This is straight from Cooking Light Feb 2009.

This is a long one, so get comfy.

Couscous:  

5 cups diced peeled sweet potato

2 cups diced peeled parsnips

1 1/2 TBS EVOO

1 tsp Ras el Hanout (spice mix found down the page)

3 carrots, peeled chopped

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup veggie broth

1 cup Israeli couscous (or normal couscous if you prefer)

1 (15 oz) chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Ras el Hanout

2 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground red pepper

1 tsp all spice

1 tsp saffron threads, crushed

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

combine all these spices and store in a container.

(I admit, I skipped out on the saffron and used my pepper medley for both red and black peppers)

Topping:

1 TBS olive oil

1 yellow onion, cut in half, then sliced

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cups raisins

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 TBS honey

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees

2. Cook couscous according to package directions using broth rather than water.

3. Place potato mixture on a baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes until tender, stirring occasionally.

3. When couscous is finished cooking, gently stir in chickpeas. Keep warm.

4. To prepare topping, heat 1 TBS olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion saute until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Add pine nuts and raisins. Cook 2 minutes. Stir in cinnamon, cook 30 seconds. Then stir in honey, remove from heat.

5. Mound couscous in the middle of a serving dish. Place roasted veggies on couscous, then top with onion mixture.