lentils and couscous

The original recipe is from The Meatless Gourmet, by Bobbie Hinman. I altered it some, of course. Here's the original, followed by my changes.

1 c lentils, uncooked
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/16 tsp gr. cinnamon
1 bay leaf
3 c water
2 tsp veg oil
2 c onion, cut vertically into very thin slivers
1 c water
1/2 c couscous

Place the lentils in a medium saucepan. Add garlic, spices and 3 c water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 40 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
While lentils are cooking, bring the 1 c water to a boil in a small saucepan. REmove from heat, stir in couscous, cover and set aside for 15 minutes.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently until onion is nicely browned, about 10 minutes. (Crisp, very brown onions are one of the secrets to the flavor of this dish, but be careful not to let them burn)
Add lentils to skillet and mix well. Remove and discard bay leaf.
Serve lentils over couscous.

GK's notes: I sweated the garlic and cumin before I added the broth and lentils. I couldn't stand the thought of just plopping raw garlic into the broth.
Because I used store bought, prepared rice couscous that had a flavor (Lundburg brand Roasted Brown Rice couscous--Mediterranean Curry flavor), I dropped the cinnamon, because I thought those flavors would clash (I've tried cinnamon and curry together before. It was gross.)
Instead of plain water, I used broth for extra depth of flavor. I used beef broth in the lentils and vegetable broth for the couscous.
I didn't have enough onion to make up quite 2 cups, but they MADE this dish. Next time, I will probably go for at least 2.5 cups, because they were really, really nice. But we adore onions, so take that into consideration. =)
Also, we are huge garlic fans, so I usually don't bother measuring the garlic--I just plop a generous amount in (I don't use fresh, I use the minced stuff from the produce department.) that is at least what they ask for.
Also, I added a 1 lb bag of frozen carrots to the lentils at the beginning of the cook time. The carrots and the onions added a lovely, sweet counterpoint to the savoriness of the beans and couscous.

This turned out SO GOOD. It's been a long time since my husband and I have waxed poetic over a new recipe, but this one took the cake. Mmmmmm......and it is so surprisingly not complex--not precisely simple...just not particularly sophisticated, for as rich and delicious as it turned out.