Couscous Salad
2 cups good stock
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup couscous
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/4" dice
1 small red bell pepper, cut into 1/4" dice
1 small cucumber or zucchini, cut into 1/4" dice
1 small red onion, cut into 1/4" dice
1 small Granny Smith apple, cut into 1/4" dice
1/3 cup currants or raisins
1-2 cups canned chick peas, rinsed and drained
1/2 tablespoon
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1. In a heavy medium saucepan, whisk together the stock, cinnamon, ginger, cumin, and turmeric. Add the couscous in a slow steady stream, stirring constantly, and continue to boil, stirring, for 1 minute.
2. Cover the pot tightly, remove from the heat and let stand for 15 minutes. Fluff the couscous grains with a fork, transfer to a large mixing bowl and let cool.
3. Fluff again, rubbing with your fingers to break up any lumps. Add the carrot, bell pepper, cucumber, onion, apple, currants and chick peas and toss.
4. In a small jar with a lid, shake olive oil with the lemon juice, salt and pepper until well mixed. Pour over the salad and toss well.
5. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or up to 3 days. Season with additional salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste before serving.
This recipe is absolutely delicious (tried it Saturday night). This makes a perfect cool meal for a hot evening. Serve it with some fresh sliced tomatoes from the garden.'
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This is a delicious salad -- the different vegetables/fruits/spices complement each other very well, although next time I will add less cinnamon as the reviewer above did. I printed the recipe a while back but put off making it due to the long (for me) ingredient list. Well, I shouldn't have because it didn't take long at all to prepare. It made a large batch which I thought would last for several days, but between myself, my daughter and daughter-in-law, it was gone within two days. I will definitely make this one again.
This was so yummy and such a kid friendly recipe too. My two and four year old can be very picky at the best of times, but they loved this and gobbled it all up. I didnt add the currants or apple as its just not to my taste, and i added slightly less cinnamon. The only other modification was to grate the carrot instead of chopping it, and the other veggies were chopped very finely. This one is definitely a keeper and im sure we'll be eating plenty of it on these hot summer days.
Thanks ;)b
mmmmmmm...yummmmy... ;D
the only thing i changed was that i used christophene (chayote) instead of the apple, cuz its hard to find apples down here and the christophene has a texture almost identical to apple, but without the sweetness.. so to counteract that i threw in a sprinkle of sugar that the apple would have added.. this really is a fabulous couscous salad.. actually, it was so good that we couldnt even wait for it to cool and just ate it warm hehe.. but it makes SO much that we will have this for at least 3 more days so we can eat it cold later..
while i was making it, my husband kept hovering around the kitchen saying "is it ready? is it ready yet? now is it ready?.. hey! you know people can actually die if they dont eat food! Im hungry! is the food done yet?" lol :-D.. and he is so busy with studying he constantly forgets to say things out loud that he is thinking.. he asked me is he said that it was really good and if he said thank you.. i told him yes he said it was good (which is rare, this boy just doesnt like food like i do) and no he didnt thank me.. so then he thanked me for making such yummy food hehe..
i used black chickpeas cuz i have a bunch and want to use them.. they are good, i recommend them.. they have a slightly more earthy taste, are smaller, and are much more nutritious than the normal white ones.. also i used raisins instead of currants and i ate it with a bunch of hotsauce, cuz im addicted to the spicy! :D
yum yum yum