Couscous Salad

Hellooooooooooooooooo Everyone!!!!! Thanks so much for all your comments. Sorry for being out of picture for a long time. I had been real busy with office and some other extra curricular activities :) Finally took some time off and updating my food blog.

Before starting with new recipe I want to thank Roopa of rvkitchentreats for giving me Rocking Girl blogger award!! Thank you so much Roopa, I am honored and you are sweetest (No doubt u keep on getting awards) :)


Few months back I tried couscous in a Greek restaurant and just loved it. I used to feel really tempted to eat Greek food all the time so I decided to try it on my own. I started with Hummus and Couscous and now it has become my staple lunch from a long time. I love it for its versatility. You can eat it cold or hot with loads of veges and flavor. It's really quick and easy to cook this dish and it goes really well with hummus and Pita bread or Naan. If you are new to couscous then do some 'MSN-Live' (of yes it's a hot search engine from Microsoft..some tough competition for google ;)) for greek food/couscous and you will get a good variety of recipes and look out in my blog for more Greek recipes :) I am giving two of my favorite Couscous recipes here (first one I saw on food network and did some changes), hope you all will enjoy it :)

Couscous Salad with Sweet Cranberries

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients-

2 cups instant couscous
3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1-teaspoon curry powder
1/2-teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1-cup finely cut iceberg/romaine lettuce
2 tablespoons chopped fresh green coriander leaves
2-3 tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 cup roasted and chopped walnuts/cashews
½ cup mozzarella/cheddar cheese (optional)
Freshly ground pepper
Salt to taste

Method-

Stir the couscous, cranberries, curry powder, salt, and sugar together in a heatproof bowl. Bring water (amount will be listed on package directions) to a boil and pour it over the couscous. Add the orange juice. Give it a big stir, cover the bowl tightly and let it stand, giving it a big stir once or twice, until the water is absorbed and the couscous is tender, about 5-10 minutes.

Fluff up the couscous with a fork. Add the olive oil, lettuce, coriander, lemon juice and pepper. Stir around until everything is distributed evenly throughout the couscous. Keep it in fridge up to 1-2 hours. Check the seasonings just before you serve the salad. Add dry fruits for the crunch before serving. Serve with warm Pita break and Hummus.

Cold Couscous Salad with veges

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients-

2 cups instant couscous
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely cut deseeded tomatoes
1/4 cup finely cut cucumber
¼ cup carrots
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh green coriander leaves
2-3 tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 deseeded green chilies (optional)
½ cup mozzarella/cheddar cheese (optional)
Freshly ground pepper
Salt to taste

Method-

Cook couscous according to the packaged instruction. I take equal portion of couscous and water. Boil the water, add 1 tsp olive oil and some salt. Then add finely chopped carrots and couscous, stir it, cover it and keep it on gas for ½ min. Now switch off the gas. After 2-3 min, fluff-up the couscous with a fork and allow couscous to stand for almost 15-20 min. Now add tomatoes, cucumber, cheese and green coriander in couscous. In a bowl take olive oil, lemon juice, green chilies and salt. Mix well and pour it over the couscous. Stir around until everything is distributed evenly throughout the couscous. Keep it in fridge up to 1-2 hours. Check the seasonings just before you serve the salad. Serve cold with warm pita bread/naan and hummus :)