A healthy and satisfying couscous salad with a wonderful flavor and packed full of healthy ingredients. Quick to assemble, it’s perfect for taking to work for lunch or enjoying as a versatile side dish. There’s a story behind the creation of this dish. My husband I went on our usual Friday night date last Friday. I’m still on my post indulgent-end-of-2013 diet to shed the few extra pounds I put on during those moments of holiday weakness. So going out to eat wasn’t really an option and I usually wince at the thought of going to a restaurant just to eat a plate of leaves. Come on, if I’m going to spend money to eat out it needs to be REAL food. But I was also starving. So here’s what happened:
Before we moved on to the “date” portion of the night we had to pick up a couple of groceries from the store. So we did that first to get it out of the way. While in the store I had the thought to check the deli out. With tons of various salads and things to choose from I thought, “Perfect!” I solved our date night dinner quandary. My husband got a deli sandwich and I got a tiny bit of four different relatively low fat/low cal salads. Four different things to eat – awesome! A small serving of each that added up to a meal.
We took the food back to the car, drove to a peaceful place, and enjoyed our impromptu date night meal while listening to music and talking. It was really nice. Anyway…long story short, one of the salads I chose was a curried couscous salad. I don’t tend to get overly excited about most grain-type salads, but this one was excellent. I knew I had to reproduce it in my own kitchen. So I had a couple of bites and left a few bites remaining so that I could take it home and use it to do numerous taste comparisons as I developed my copycat recipe. The end result had mine and my husband’s seal of approval and it’s a delicious copycat. The only difference: The store-bought salad used dried currants. I didn’t have any on hand so I used raisins instead. You can use either. What do you think?
This couscous salad is perfect as a light lunch or as a side with dinner. My husband took it to work with him for lunch two days in a row and loved it.
Let’s get started! A ton of healthy ingredients go into this salad: Garbanzo beans, carrots, celery, parsley, green onions, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, honey, raisins (or dried currants if you prefer), curry powder (this one’s the best bang for your buck), and turmeric (both of which contain medicinal properties). And if you want to take it a step further, use whole grain couscous.
Couscous is semolina, or granules of durum wheat. It’s a traditional Berber dish and is a staple throughout North Africa (think Moroccan cuisine). To prepare it, simply add the water to a medium saucepan along with the salt and olive oil, bring to a boil, add the couscous, immediately turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, fluff with a fork and place it in a very large mixing bowl. Set aside.
Finely shred the carrot. I like the visual look of fine strands of carrot so I used a special mandolin for that purpose. Use whatever you have on hand.
Very finely chop the celery and green onion. You don’t want large crunchy chunks in the salad.
Combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk until combined. Set aside.
Add all the veggies, the parsley, raisins and garbanzo beans to the couscous. Look at that beautiful array of colors and nutrients.
Stir to combine, then pour the dressing over it, about 1/3 at a time, stirring between additions to combine the salad.
That’s it! The couscous absorbs the color of the curry and turmeric beautifully.
Cover the couscous with a lid or plastic wrap. Because of the vinegar/acid content, make sure it’s in either a glass or plastic bowl. Refrigerate overnight for best results. The flavors need time to meld.
This couscous salad is perfect as a light lunch or as a side with dinner. Enjoy it along with some grilled chicken or fish.
- 2 cups uncooked couscous (you can also use whole wheat couscous)
- 1 cup finely shredded carrot
- ¾ cup finely chopped celery
- 3 green onions, finely sliced
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup canned drained garbanzo beans
- ½ cup raisins or dried currants
- 1-2 tablespoons finely minced preserved lemon (optional but fabulous)
- For the Dressing:
- ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons honey (Vegans: use agave nectar)
- 2 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 tablespoon turmeric powder
- 1 tablespoon vegetable broth powder
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- To prepare the couscous, bring 2 cups of vegetable or chicken broth along with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil to a boil in a medium saucepan. As soon as it's boiling, add the couscous, immediately turn off the heat, cover and let sit for 15 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork and put it in a very large mixing bowl. Set
- Add all veggies, parsley, garbanzo beans, raisins/currants and preserved lemon to the couscous and stir to combine.
- To prepare the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until emulsified.
- Pour the dressing over the couscous salad, ⅓ at a time, stirring to combine between additions. Cover and refrigerate overnight so the flavors have time to meld. Because of the vinegar/acid content, use a glass or plastic bowl.
- Serve as a light lunch or as a side dish along with chicken, fish, etc.
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Taylor @ greens & chocolate says
I love it when copy cat recipes are successful!! I love making grain salads to take to work for lunches all week (just got done eating a quinoa salad!) and this one looks delicious…I love all of the flavors and especially the sweetness from the raisins. Yum!
The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks, Taylor! I love the challenge of making copycats. That’s one of the things I liked about it, too – the spiciness of the curry combined with the sweetness of the raisins and honey. Thanks for visiting!
Susan says
Wow, the comparison is A-MAZING! I haven’t enjoyed couscous in the past, but this looks really good and I’m bound to try this soon. Thanks!
The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Susan! As long as you like cold salads, curry and pasta (which really is what couscous is – tiny bits of pasta), then you should definitely like this!
Sallyburke2 says
Will give your recipe a go, similar to what I make except the seasoning I use is North African Chemoula. Haven’t added grated carrot before or Chick Peas, usually pal minds have been my choice.
The Daring Gourmet says
That sounds fabulous, Sally! I love the flavor of the lemon and coriander in chemoula and the almonds sound really good, too. Thanks so much for sharing! I think I’ll try something like that next. Some dried apricots would be a wonderful addition, too.
Sallyburke2 says
Whoops, meant almonds, the gremlin is at it again
Rachel @LittleChefBigAppetite says
This looks so yummy and delightful!
The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks, Rachel, and thank you for stopping by!
bakeaffairs says
I love Couscous and this one looks so delicious and beautiful!
The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks so much, Bridget! I’ve actually only ever had couscous just a handful of times, mostly with Moroccan food. But it’s so versatile and complements practically any kind food, and I’m looking forward to experimenting with it more.
Adina says
Hallo Kimberly,
The salad was great, I made it as part of my birthday dinner and everybody loved it. I might have made too much of it, my husband and I kept eating it for the next three days. It got better every day.
Adina
The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks for your feedback, Adina, I’m glad everyone enjoyed it! It does make a large batch. I’ve thought about sizing it down a bit but haven’t for the very reason you mentioned – it makes great leftovers and the flavor only gets better as the ingredients have time to meld!
Faith Anne says
Looking forward to trying to this recipe for dinner but coming up with a blank as what to serve with it. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Faith Anne! This salad is really versatile and you can serve it as you would any pasta-type salad – goes great with chicken and fish!
Christina says
I don’t have enough couscous, can I substitue quinoa?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
You betcha, Christina! I prefer the texture of couscous, but it’s strictly personal preference. Be sure to cook the quinoa slightly al-dente so the salad isn’t mushy!
jennifer says
Liked it, but I used a vegetable bouillon (the entire cube) and it made it taste a little grainy….a little too overpowering. Next time, I’ll just get vegetable broth powder.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Jennifer, yes the cube wouldn’t have dissolved properly in the cool or room temp water. Also, most broth cubes call for a higher quantity water than a teaspoon of powder. Even so, yes, the dissolvability (is that a word?) is the biggest issue. Better luck next time!
shan says
Made this for two different pot lucks once with couscous and once with quinoa and it was such a hit!!! Only thing i didn’t have was the vegetable broth powder. still tasted amazing!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
That is so awesome, shan, I’m so happy to hear it was a hit! Thanks so much for the feedback!
aims says
This is so good! I’ve made this twice already (two days in a row!)
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
So thrilled to hear that, aims, thanks for the feedback!
g w says
love this recipe. so easy to adapt. instead of adding the vegetable boullion to the dressing, try cooking the couscous in broth, or the boullion added to the cooking water. i also used the pearl or israeli type couscous. larger and has more bite. dried cranberries instead of currants is also a nice change. whatever you do this recipe is incredible, you can make is mild enough a 3 year old devours it or spicier for the more adventurous…thanks for posting :)
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Awesome, so glad you liked this, gw, and absolutely, this recipe is super easy to adapt!
Nikki says
I made this tonight, but then realized I didn’t have apple cider vinegar. I substituted it with some lime juice, and I think it worked quite well! :) Thanks for the recipe. Really good.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Nikki, lime juice was a great substitute, so glad you enjoyed this, thank you!
Matt says
I’m a student living in a house where we do rotational cooking. My roommates consistently get excited when I make this dish! It’s a big hit. I even make it for my parents sometimes now.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
That’s terrific, Matt, I’m so glad it’s been a hit – thank you!
Jenn says
sounds lovely, Im going to try it for dinner tonight. Any idea how many calories this might be.
looking for something to fit my diet.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks, Jenn. I don’t have that info on hand but sites like caloriecount.com and fitday.com are a great resource – you simply enter the ingredients and their quantities and they automatically generate all the nutritional info for you.
Brent says
Wonderful salad. I substituted Cilantro for the parsley and added 1/2 C of Craisins.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Fantastic, Brent, thank you! I just made this again last week as a side dish for an outdoor get-together. We love it, too!
Mary says
Great recipe! I have made it twice and each time it just tasted better. I did add half a lemon and more honey as my curry powder was way too spicy. I also added dried apricots, it added a nice sweetness to offset the spice.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Fantastic, Mary, thank you! We love this salad too and I just made a batch of it last week for an outdoor potluck.
Anonymous says
what is really silly about the layout of this recipe is that all the ingredients are listed at the BOTTOM of the page …..
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
What’s silly about that? The step-by-step preparation pictures are shown first followed by the recipe. It’s a pretty logical progression and is typical of most recipe blogs. Best of all, this recipe and all others on my blog are provided to you for FREE – you’re welcome.
Allison says
My ex and i have a running joke about all the cooking blogs that put the ingredients at the very bottom…it’s super annoying when you pull the page up to double check the ingredients and you have to scroll all the way to the bottom again.
And honestly sometimes all the back story about how great aunt sally always made this dish etc gets tedious to read through. We just want the instructions.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hey Allison, we food bloggers have a running joke as well about the people who complain about having to take an extra couple of seconds to scroll to get a FREE recipe. If you’d rather bypass the talk about Great Aunt Sally, you can always BUY a cookbook. Otherwise, the next time you find yourself having to do a bit of scrolling on whichever food blog you’re visiting, please realize that we work very hard in order to provide a FREE service to our readers.
Erica says
Love this! I didn’t have honey so I used maple syrup. I added roasted red peppers and pine nuts because my huband loves them :) Didn’t have preserved lemons so I added lemon zest. Sharing with my food and wine club. THANKS!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Fantastic, Erica, thank you, and those sound like great additions!