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–+ servings
Photo of the served giant cous cous dish seen on a deep white plate, with the vibrant broth, squid rings, tiger prawns, chorizo and mussels on show and finished with fresh coriander

Instant Pot Giant Cous Cous with Seafood

Maria Bravo
Giant cous cous (also called israeli couscous or pearl couscous) is delicious and so easy cooked under pressure. Pressure cooked with seafood in the Instant Pot, the result is so good and the recipe so easy
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course Appetizer, main
Cuisine British
Servings 4 not very hungry people or 2 hungry people, feel free to double it up, same times
Calories 289 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Pressure Cooker

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or oil of your choice
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
  • 1 small carrot finely chopped or grated
  • ¼ orange pepper or your favourite colour pepper
  • ½ red chilli deseeded (if you don’t like spicy food, don’t add it, this recipe is very versatile)
  • 1 small chunk of spicy chorizo it doesn’t have to be spicy chorizo, in fact it doesn’t have to be chorizo at all, you could always use a teaspoon of paprika, although I’d probably use a teaspoon of sweet and a teaspoon of smoked paprika
  • 1 lemon zested and juiced
  • 550 ml stock I used homemade chicken stock, you could also use water and a couple of heaped tablespoons of my vegetable stock paste. This particular stock had then been used to make my Chicken, Leek and Carrot Soup with Chorizo so it already had extra lovely flavour
  • 145 g giant cous cous (also called pearl cous cous or Israeli cous cous) this was one and a quarter cups using the measuring cup that comes with your Instant Pot. Most supermarkets in the UK seem to sell their own brands of this type of cous cous. It also works with wholewheat giant cous cous. Here in England it's easy to find in Sainsbury's
  • 2 spring onions trimmed and sliced
  • 175 g frozen Mixed Seafood I used a pack from Tesco called Seafood Selection, “a cooked selection of mussels, kings prawns and squid rings, no need to defrost

To serve

  • Lemon wedges 1 or 2 per person
  • 1 handful Fresh coriander chopped (don't like coriander? Use parsley or skip entirely)

Instructions
 

Note for Thermomix users: make your life easier by chopping the onion, garlic cloves, carrot and chilli for 5 seconds on speed 5 then add the pepper and do 2 more seconds, speed 5 then decant everything into the Instant Pot’s inner pot to Sauté.

  • Set to a low Sauté. Add the oil and sauté all the vegetables for a good 5 minutes. Add the chorizo and keep sauteing, letting it release its lovely juices, keep stirring to coat the vegetables.
    1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or oil of your choice, 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 small carrot, ¼ orange pepper, ½ red chilli, 1 small chunk of spicy chorizo
  • Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and the stock. Stir in the cous cous, the spring onions and the frozen seafood.
    1 lemon, 550 ml stock, 145 g giant cous cous (also called pearl cous cous or Israeli cous cous), 2 spring onions, 175 g frozen Mixed Seafood
  • Check the sealing ring is properly in place. Lock the lid in. Steam Release set to Sealing.
  • Pressure cook on high for 1 minute. Do a 6 minute quick pressure release at the end. This means that, when it finishes cooking, you wait 6 minutes and then do a QPR (Quick Pressure Release) to let the rest of the steam trapped inside out. I set the timer on my phone to 6 minutes when I hear the Instant Pot beep to say it’s finished cooking.
  • Serve with the freshly chopped coriander and the lemon wedges. Enjoy!
    1 handful Fresh coriander, Lemon wedges

Video

Notes

*Terminology
 
Quick release (also called quick pressure release or QPR) means venting the steam as soon as the pressure cooking process finishes, i.e. moving the steam release handle from Sealing to Venting.
 
Natural release (also called natural pressure release or NPR) means letting the float valve pop back down of its own accord, so basically you don’t need to do anything at the end and can keep your feet up. If it takes over 15 minutes, you're ok to release the rest of the steam (by turning the steam release handle to Venting) that may be left in order to unlock and open the lid. 
 
Sometimes you'll see me talk of a combination of NPR followed by a QPR. For example a recipe may have a 4 minute NPR followed by a QPR. You wait for 4 minutes at the end of the pressure cooking time and then do a QPR by moving the steam release handle from Sealing to Venting. 

Nutrition

Calories: 289kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 17gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 1552mgPotassium: 204mgFiber: 3gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 3370IUVitamin C: 36mgCalcium: 30mgIron: 2mg
Keyword chorizo, giant cous cous, lemon, Seafood
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