07/10/14
Jewelled Couscous
This is such a beautiful salad to make. It turns couscous from a very plain, bland grain into a delight for the taste buds. I love cooking with pomegranate seeds, they are so magical, it’s like working with little rubies and when you taste the salad, it transports you to some far away corner of Morocco. It is perfect served with a tagine and a huge green salad, or it can be eaten on its own as a light lunch. I know there are a load of ingredients in this recipe, so if you don’t have all the nuts or all the herbs simply add what you can and it will still be delicious.
ingredients
Serves 4
couscous 250g
bouillion /vegetable stock
handful of mint/flat leaf parsley/coriander finely choppped
garlic cloves x 2 finely chopped
tbsp Toasted flaked almonds
tbsp Raisins
tbsp Pumpkin seeds
tbsp pine nuts
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
seeds of 1 pomegranate
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
Dressing
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 orange
tbsp honey
4 tbsp olive oil
Freshly ground S and P
method
1. Tip the couscous into a large bowl and cover with enough stock that the liquid line sits an inch above the couscous. Cover and leave to do its thing, approx 15 minutes.
2. If the almonds are not already toasted, dry roast them in a shallow frying pan, then place in large mixing bowl.
4. Plump up the raisins buy lightly toasting them in the almond pan, stiring them around until they fatten up, and you start to smell the sweetness. Add to the nuts.
5. Then add the herbs, garlic, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, zest of orange and lemon, pomegranate seeds, ground cumin, ground coriander, to the nuts and raisins.
6. For the dressing, in a jar add the lemon and orange juice, olive oil, honey, mustard, shake up.
7. Once the couscous is cooked and all the liquid has been absorbed, lightly stir it up with a fork, getting right to the bottom of the bowl. Then add all the above ingredients and continue to stir it up as you pour over the dressing. Season well and then its good to go.
