Hibachi Vegetables with Toasted Couscous and Homemade Yum Yum Sauce

Confession Time: I love hibachi...and I have been craving it for months now so tonight was Hibachi at Home night complete with homemade vegan Yum Yum sauce. I don't love fried rice and at the risk of the wrath of the international food gods for mixing cultures and cuisines...I do love couscous so I had my hibachi veggies over a bed of toasted couscous.

This is a great recipe for a special occasion, or, like a traditional hibachi restaurant, serving a crowd because you can, make a huge batch of the couscous and veggies and then, if you are feeding meat eaters, just cook up some protein separate for them! Fridge to table in just about 30 minutes! Cheers to Publix for their tri-colored carrots...makes for a pretty plate if I do say so myself!

What you are going to need to buy:

Couscous - (Here’s my secret! I typically buy the boxed stuff and my favorite brand happens to be THESE from from the brand Near East)

Butter - (I love this plant based butter from Earth Balance)

Minced Garlic - (we like these jarred options from Spice World!)  

Vegetables - (I used potatoes, carrots, snap peas, green beans, broccoli, green beans and mushrooms…but really use what you love!)

Soy Sauce

Mayo (Vegan)

Ketchup

Apple Cider Vinegar

Maple Syrup

Garlic Powder

Smoked Paprika (or whatever paprika you have on hand)

Salt & Pepper, to taste

What you are going to need to do:

If you want to get this meal on the table quick, then this is a two pot meal. You’ll need a medium saucepan to cook your couscous and a larger skillet to cook the veggies.

Let’s start with the couscous. It’s pretty straight forward and I would say that you can prepare per your box’s instructions with ONE EXCEPTION! The trick to really flavorful couscous is to toast it before cooking! If you’ve been here awhile you’ll be familiar with this but if not…(See Below)

PRO TIP: In a non-oiled, medium saucepan, on medium/low heat measure out the desired amount of couscous, according to the boxed directions, for the number of serving you need to make. Let the couscous toast in the warm pan, stirring or agitating the pan often so that the contents do not burn. After about 90 seconds you should see the couscous pearls begin to turn from blond to light brown. When this happens take the saucepan off the heat. It will continue to toast, from the residual heat but you don’t want it to burn.

Roasting the vegetables is really more of a timing thing than anything! If you’ve been to a traditional hibachi you’ll remember that they cook things in stages and the same principle works here but unlike a hibachi you probably want to serve your guests a finished plate all at once so you’ll need to stagger your veggies.

In your large skillet, melt a good amount of butter…3 tablespoons, or so, and wait until it is sizzling. Here is a “rough” order of cooking for the veggies that I used:

1. Carrots & Potatoes (They are the most dense and starchy and take the longest.)

2. Mushrooms & Soy Sauce - Don’t add the Soy Sauce right away because you want a little crispness on your potatoes and with too much moisture in the pan they will cook, but not get crispy.

3. Broccoli, Green Beans & Garlic

4. Snap Peas (They go last…they are so delicate they will burn easy, if you are not careful)

Note: Cooking the veggies is cumulative, so you just keep adding to the same skillet until you’ve added everything. This way, they all finish cooking at roughly the same time.

You can make the Yum Yum Sauce while the veggies are cooking: but keep your eye on them, and your couscous so nothing begins to burn.

Making the Yum Yum Sauce

This will be measurements per serving, simply multiply the recipe for the number of people you are cooking for. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. It’s not that precise, to be honest!

1/4 cup of Mayo

1 heaping tablespoon of Ketchup

1 tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar

1 teaspoon of Maple Syrup

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon Paprika

Salt & Pepper, to taste

(If you like a runner “restaraunt style” sauce simply add 1 teaspoon of water at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Serve the veggies, piled high, on top of a bed of fluffy couscous with your homemade Yum Yum Sauce on the side. Enjoy!