ARABIAN PIE FOR LUNCH TODAY!

On: By: Philip Wake

Meal 22: Couscous, Haricot Beans and Tuna Fish with Gravy (Arabian Pie)

You’ve heard of Cottage Pie & Shepherds Pie but this is Arabian Pie. The hole in the middle which has been zoomed is there so that you can see what’s inside. It is not a necessary part of preparing it!
An 8½” x 2″ bowl full – twice as much as I could eat but probably enough for 4 ladies!
An 8½” x 2″ bowl full – twice as much as I could eat but probably enough for 4 ladies!
CALORIE DENSITY: 22% = 1016kcal/(1152ml x 4)
(Compare with Sugar: 95%, butter: 180%)
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COST: 111p (So don’t tell me that eating healthy food is expensive!)
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TIME: 11 minutes
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INGREDIENTS
  • Baked beans: 250g: 156kcal (250ml) Asda SP Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce 410g for 23p
  • Tuna 102g: 116kcal (102ml) Asda SP Tuna Chunks in Brine 145g can for 59p
  • Couscous 250ml (200g): 648kcal (500ml) Asda Cous Cous 500g packet 65p = 26p
  • Gravy: 20g: 100kcal (250ml) Asda SP Gravy Granules 200g for 20p = 3p
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Open the can of baked beans, rinse the beans in water and transfer what is now just cooked haricot beans into a large serving bowl.
  2. Open the can of tuna, drain and chop/mix the tuna into the bowl containing beans.
  3. Microwave for 2mins at 800W
  4. Measure 250ml of water into a glass jug, microwave at 800W for 3mins 30secs, add 4 heaped teaspoons of  gravy granules stirring vigorously as you do so until the gravy thickens without any lumps.
  5. Add the gravy to the bowl containing the beans and tuna.
  6. Measure 250ml of couscous into a large jug, add 250ml of boiling water and stir vigorously. You can also add half a teaspoon of turmeric if you want the pie to look browned.
  7. Microwave for 2mins at 800W.
  8. Carefully spoon the couscous on top of the beans, tuna & gravy in the bowl to produce your Arabian Pie as pictured but without a hole.
  9. Microwave for 2mins at 800W.
Serve as it is or divide into portions. You should mix the couscous with beans, tuna & gravy as you eat the meal and add salt to taste if required. This makes two meals for a man like me (large frame and vigorously active) or four meals for a lady. I don’t mention the calories for each meal because when you indulge in eating natural low density food  which has a density of less than 25% you just eat as much as your appetite dictates and then stop eating. This meal tastes equally delicious with any of the pulses although I have to say that chickpeas are my favourite! The pulses I regularly use are: chickpeas, butter beans, cannellini beans, borlotti beans, haricot beans, pinto beans, black-eyed beans, black beans and kidney beans. You could add some green vegetables if you like but I just take multi-vitamins because they’re more effective and a lot cheaper.
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