Vegan ‘chicken’ and pumpkin couscous – low fodmap

An autumn favourite is pumpkin and numerous varieties can be found. When I was young pumpkin in the UK was unheard of – in fact we used to make Halloween lanterns with a swede! That certainly was a recipe for injury – although the pumpkin isn’t always easy to carve.

I have also decided to venture into a vegan recipe using vegan ‘chicken’ low FODMAP suitable products are based on soya protein or alternatively you could use Quorn ‘chicken’ pieces.

This was a fairly easy recipe to make and was lightly spiced – if you want a heavier spice then you can add more Ras El Hanout. Do check your spice mix has no high fodmap ingredients such as onion or garlic. Enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 200g Pumpkin
  • 30g Pumpkin seeds
  • 30g Pine nuts
  • 20g Sunflower seeds
  • 30g Course peanut butter
  • 200ml Water
  • 1 teaspoon of Ras El Hanout Spice
  • 200g Soya protein based chicken pieces
  • 250g Corn couscous
  • Spray oil
  • 30g mint leaves
  • Seasoning (salt and pepper) to taste

Method

  • Chop the pumpkin and boil in water till soft.
  • Spray oil into a frying pan and add the Ras El Hanout and fry gently with minimal oil to release the flavours, add the chopped mint leaves.
  • Add the peanut butter, seeds and water to the frying pan and cook till thickened
  • Add the ‘chicken’ pieces and cooked pumpkin
  • Weight the couscous and pour over the same amount of boiling water (250 ml) and leave to cook – run a fork through the mix to give texture to the couscous
  • You can either serve the ‘chicken’ sauce and couscous separately or mix the ‘chicken’ sauce through the couscous, as I have done.
  • Serves 5-6 enjoy!