A spring dish that is just as easy to make as it is to eat.
What is couscous?
I must admit, for sometime I was a bit unsure about what couscous really was, and I’m sure I’m not the only one!
Pearl couscous (aka: Israeli couscous) is essentially pasta (but tiny!). Like pasta, couscous is made from wheat flour and semolina (a coarse-ground flour from the heart of durum wheat.) The only difference it has to pasta is that it’s toasted instead of dried. Couscous is also shaped into small balls, giving it a really fun texture!
What’s the secret?
There is a secret to cooking perfect couscous.
Toast the couscous in a little bit of oil before adding the liquid. Why, you ask? Toasting it will actually help it cook more evenly. Don’t skip this step unless you want to have hard/undercooked or smooshy/overcooked couscous.
For more flavor
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Sauté a small onion in the pot before adding the couscous to toast.
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Use vegetable or chicken stock instead of water.
Pearl Couscous Salad
Ingredients
Veggies
- 1 Large Tomato 2 hand fulls of cherry tomatoes
- 1 Medium Cucumber
- 1 Handfull Kalamata Olives
- 10 Mint leaves
Couscous
- 1 Small White Onion
- 2 Cups Pearl Couscous
- 3 Cups Chicken or Vegetable Stock
Dressing
- 1/2 Cup Avocado Oil (or prefered oil)
- 1/4 Cup White Vinegar
- 1/2 Lime juice
- 1 Tbsp. Honey
- 1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
- 1 Pinch Salt (to taste)
- 1 Pinch Oregano
Instructions
- Chop tomatoes, cucumber, and feta into cubes and thinly slice mint leaves. (You can do this ahead of time and put them in the refrigerator until you are ready to combine with couscous.)
- In a small pot, bring chicken stock to a simmer.
- In a medium pot, sauté diced onion in a little bit of oil.
- When onions become translucent, add couscous to toast for about 2-3 min. Stir often.
- Pour simmering stock over couscous, reduce heat to a simmer, place lid, and allow to cook for 8-10 min.
- While couscous is cooking, make the dressing by combining all ingredients into a tall narrow glass jar. With a hand blender, blend all ingredients until creamy.
- Fluff cooked couscous with a fork to separate.
- Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together.
