Warming curried couscous salad
Ingredients
Roasted vegetables
- 3 carrots 1/4-inch thick halfmoons
- 1 small cauliflower small florets
- 1 tsp turmeric
- fresh ground pepper to taste
Dressing
- 1/2 cup lemon juice from 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 3 cloves garlic minced, or use 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1-inch piece ginger minced, or use 2 teaspoons ginger powder
- 1 tablespoon cumin ground
- 1 teaspoon coriander ground
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
Salad components
- 1 cup couscous (whole wheat preferred)
- 1 can chickpeas drained and patted dry
- 1/2 cup almonds sliced or chopped
- 2 green onions sliced thinly
- 3/4 cup dried currants raisins or cranberries also work
- 2 cups baby kale baby spinach or Swiss chard work too, or any greens
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
Roasted vegetables
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Toss carrots and cauliflower with turmeric, salt, and pepper. You can use a teaspoon of oil if desired, or spritz with aquafaba or vegetable broth.
- Spread the vegetables on lined baking sheet. Roast for 40 min, flipping once partway.
Dressing
- If you have a small container for your blender or food processor, place all ingredients in it and process until smooth. You can omit the olive oil if desired (add a little more water).
- Otherwise, make sure to mince the garlic and ginger finely, then mix together.
Couscous and assembly
- In a medium pot with lid, bring 1 cup water to a boil. Stir in 1 cup whole wheat couscous, cover, turn off heat.
- After 5 min, fluff with a fork.
- In a large salad bowl, mix half of the roasted veggies with the chickpeas, almonds, green onions, currants, leafy greens, and cilantro. Add the couscous.
- Mix in 1/2 cup of the dressing. Toss and serve.
Notes
Double up the vegetables for roasting as well as the dressing, and use the leftovers to make pizza. (See specific directions in the Planned & Plant-based challenge guide.)
Look for whole wheat couscous as much as possible. Regular couscous will work too! "Israeli" or "pearl" couscous is different and has to be cooked like pasta, but would work here, as well as any other grain really (orzo pasta, quinoa, pearl barley, millet...). Follow relevant cooking directions.
