So for those of you who don’t know, Tu Bishvat is called Rosh Hashana L’ilanot, or the New Year for fruit trees, which has various customs and lovely meanings but most of all is known for people eating of the 7 species of the Land of Israel and many dried fruits. So like most of the people I know, we have worthy organizations that drop off dried fruit arrangements, some with scarily colored things included (really, I know nobody who wants to eat dried kiwi, just sayin’) and while this is a very lovely idea, you are often stuck with more dried fruit than you wanted. So this year being no different than any other in this respect, my wonderful friend and neighbor Chana, who is always (truly) doing good deeds, dropped off 2 fruit tray thingies for me and my mom.

Now my mom ain’t gonna touch most of this so I figured I’d just buy them both and do something good with them, hence the Tanzia, which is what this lovely woman Aliza, one of the chefs in Kibbutz Lavi where we were with all the kids on Chanukah prepared and I never forgot it. You are sorta caramelizing/candying the dried fruit into a sauce but I add a bit of sour in there for contrast and it’s yum.

She gave me a loose recipe and of course, I fiddled about with it. It’s really delicious and hope you will enjoy as much as we did!

You start by preheating the oven to 350 F/180 C and I took all the nuts, both walnuts and almonds but if you have one or the other, just choose what you like. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and lightly spray with oil spray. By the way, toasted nuts last a week in the fridge or about a month frozen, so if you wanna, you can do more than you need for the one recipe here.

Just make sure they are in one layer so they toast properly and bung them in the hot oven for about 8 minutes, keep an eye on them and pull out and stir once at that point, pop ’em back in and toast about another 3-4 minutes, depending on your oven and remove promptly so they don’t burn. Immediately transfer to a plate or bowl to cool. They continue to cook from residual heat so this prevents them from burning. One more word on this, even if they don’t taste toasted enough if you try one, trust me, it will get to that consistency after about 15 minutes. Patience is a virtue 🙂 .

Next, prepare your dried fruits. So I supplemented with a coupla more prunes but really choose the mixture you like best. Add more dates or raisins (they only had craisins so I went with that and liked the hint of sour they provided).

Chop them up or slice up into chunks. Then, peel and chop your onion and sautee in oil.

Now you add all the other goodies below

Right into the pan with the onions add the salt, cinnamon, maple syrup, silan or date syrup, pomegranate syrup and if you wish, a splash of wine, white or red (I had leftover red so in it went!).

Now you cook and reduce the sauce on low medium heat till it gets syrupy for about 20-25 minutes and looks like this:

Now all you have to do is prepare your couscous – the recipe is on the blog here: Fluffy Couscous and as soon as it’s fluffed and ready, either plate individually, or mound the couscous on a dish and spoon the dried fruit tanzine on top topping the lot with the toasted nuts. It looks beautiful and tastes out of this world, perfect for celebrating your New Year of fruits!

Middle Eastern Couscous With Sweet Dried Fruit for Tu Bishvat

1 cup walnuts or almonds or a combination of both
1 tablespoon oil or oil spray
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons silan or date syrup
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons pomegranate syrup
2 tablespoons wine (red or white) optional
4 tablespoons water
4-5 dried apricots, chopped
4 dates, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
8-10 prunes, pitted and sliced
Salt to taste

Directions:

To toast almonds or walnuts, preheat 350 F/180 C. Put nuts on parchment lined rimmed baking sheet and lightly spray with oil. Spread in one even layer in pan. Roast nuts 8 minutes or so and check (time it!!) and if needed toast 3-4 more minutes till fragrant and lightly toasted. They can burn very easily so do not step away from the oven and keep an eye on them. Remove promptly and let cool on a plate or bowl not on the same baking sheet since the residual heat can overcook them.
Place the additional oil in a frying pan and sauté the onions until deep yellow or light brown. Add all the sliced and chopped dried fruit to the onions. Add the date syrup, pomegranate syrup and wine (if using) to the mixture in the frying pan, add the water. Cook on low heat until the liquid reduces to a syrupy consistency, about 20-25 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Place couscous mounded on a platter, pour over the cooked fruit mixture on top. Top with the toasted nuts and serve as is or with grilled pargit, roast chicken, beef or any main you fancy.