Barley There - Another Way to Couscous

For years I thought there was only one kind of couscous in this world, the light yellowish "normal sized" kind made from hard durum wheat. Then came the browning movement and whole wheat couscous made its debut onto our grocer's shelves. Well, turns out there's more to couscous than even that. Now this may come as a surprise to most, but barley couscous is also on the scene and available at Whole Foods. It is made in certain parts of Morocco where it is apparently called malthuth.

Now being a big fan of both couscous and barley, you can bet I was really excited to try this. It cooked up just like the other similarly sized varieties and had a calming tan color. I paired it with a simple chickpea stew and had myself a modest, yet satisfying, meal.

To be honest, though a little nutty, barley couscous doesn't taste that much different from the Plain Jane varieties, but heck, it's unique (read: fun) and that's good enough for me!