Description
This Taboulé, or Cous Cous Salad is super simple to make, is full of healthy vegetables and stores very well in the fridge. The perfect side for a summer BBQ that you can continue eating all week long as a hearty and satisfying meal in a bowl.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 Cup of uncooked Couscous grains
- 4 persian cucumbers
- 1 red onion
- 4-5 tomatoes of varying colors if possible
- 1 bunch of italian flat parsley
- 5-6 sprigs of fresh mint
- 1 lemon for zesting
- 1/2 cup Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon harissa (North African red chili paste)
- 1 can of chickpeas
Instructions
- First: Cook the cous cous as per package instructions, fluff and then place in a big salad bowl in the fridge to chill. Cover with plastic wrap and let chill for a couple hours.
- Dice the tomatoes, onions and peeled cucumbers into tiny squares. You do not want big chunks in this salad! You will want to have all the vegetables present in each delicious bite.
- Chop the parsley. The more parsley the better, so grab a big bunch and chop away!
- Remove the chilled salad bowl of couscous from the fridge and fold in the mixed vegetables and parsley. I like to mix with a spatula to get that gentle fold that does not mush the couscous. You don't want to over mix!!
- Next, I whisk together the cup of olive oil, harissa and balsamic vinegar in a separate bowl. If you don't have Harissa on hand, any red chili paste works very nicely for a little kick.
- Pour the vinaigrette over the couscous and vegetable mix.
- Grate the lemon zest directly into the bowl and squeeze the lemon juice over the top. Mix again
- Bon Appétit!
Notes
*** Variations! At this point you can also add in proteins such as chopped grilled chicken, crabsticks, shrimps, tuna, egg or tofu. I also like to add chopped black olives or grated carrots. Mix and match as you like, it is really hard to make a bad Taboulé, trust me on this!***