Cous Cous Salad

Cous Cous Salad

Cous Cous is a Mediterranean/North African dish made of semolina. It has a coarse, granular texture, the size of sugar grains. (although Israeli cous cous is much bigger).
It is usually with meat or vegetables, serving as a bed. I fell in love with cous cous few years ago when I boldly ventured into cooking mediterranean dishes at home! I also had this dish, veggies served over cous cocus at a Moroccan Restaurant ‘Casablanca’ in Sacramento.

I have served cous cous just by itself as a salad, or have paired it with Indian curries (with gravy). Being versatile, it soaks up the food it is paired up with wonderfully.

Cous cous is readily available at most grocery stores these days. Once you get familiar with the basics of cooking with cous cous, use your imagination and pair it up with just about anything!





Ingredients:


-1 cup cous cous
-1/2 cup tomatoes, diced
- ¼ cup onions, finely diced or use a bunch of spring onions
- Olive oil, 2-3 tbs
- Lemon juice, 1 tbs
- Basil, 3-5 leaves roughly chopped
- 1 Garlic clove, finely minced
- Water, 1 cup
- Salt, as needed

1. Boil 1 cup of water. Turn the stove off, add the cous cous and cover. Let it stand for 5-8min. Cous cous must have soaked up all the water now. Fluff with a fork.
2. In a bowl, mix the tomato, onion, garlic and basil. Add the olive oil and lemon juice. Mix well. Mix in the cous cous and salt it as needed.
3. Let this salad rest in the refrigerator for atleast 30min for the flavors to infuse. I like this salad cold, tastes better.


Variation:

Try adding ½ cup of black beans to increase the nutritional value.
Try cilantro instead of basil leaves.