Couscous Salad with Sun Dried Tomato and Feta

Name: Couscous Salad with Sun Dried Tomato and Feta
Prep time: 12 min
Yield: 5 - 10 people
Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups dried couscous; 1 1/4 cups / 315 ml boiled water; 1 tsp vegetable stock powder; 1 garlic clove; 1 tsp coriander powder (or cumin - I interchange); 400 g / 14 oz chickpeas (1 can); 1/2 cup Coriander; 1/2 cup parsley; 1 red onion; 220 g / 7 oz jar sun dried tomato strips in oil; 120 g / 4 oz rocket / arugula lettuce; Zest of 1 large lemon; 5 tbsp fresh lemon juice; 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper; 60 g / 2 oz feta; salt and pepper

User Reviews

5.0

186 reviews

Excellent

Prep Time
12 mins
Servings
5 - 10 people
Calories
260 kcal
Course
Side Dish, Dinner
Cuisine
Vegetarian

Couscous Salad with Sun Dried Tomato and Feta

Kai Walton

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Recipe VIDEO above. A 12 minute, no cook, giant Couscous Salad with sun dried tomato, feta, rocket / arugula, herbs and the added nutty tastiness of chickpeas. My shortcut-flavour tip is to use the oil from the sun dried tomato jar as the dressing - free flavour! The flavour pops from the sun dried tomato and feta are quite intense, so this truly is satisfying to have as a meal, or as a substantial side. This makes quite a lot - serves 5 as a main, or 8 - 10 as a side. Keeps very well.

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Ingredients

Servings

1 1/4 cups dried couscous (Note 1)
1 1/4 cups / 315 ml boiled water
1 tsp vegetable stock powder (or 1 cube crumbled) (Note 2)
1 garlic clove , minced
1 tsp coriander powder (or cumin - I interchange)
400 g / 14 oz chickpeas (1 can) , drained
1/2 cup Coriander , finely chopped
1/2 cup parsley , finely chopped (or mint)
1 red onion , chopped
220 g / 7 oz jar sun dried tomato strips in oil (Note 3)
120 g / 4 oz rocket / arugula lettuce , chopped into 5 cm / 2" pieces
Zest of 1 large lemon
5 tbsp fresh lemon juice (2 large lemons)
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
60 g / 2 oz feta , crumbled
salt and pepper , to taste

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Instructions

Place chickpeas, couscous, vegetable stock powder, coriander and garlic in a large bowl. Pour over hot water, shake to level out couscous (chickpeas should mostly settle on top). Cover with plate or cling wrap, set aside for 5 minutes.
Fluff couscous with fork. Cool a bit.
Add coriander, parsley, onion, sun dried tomatoes (including all oil), rocket, lemon juice and black pepper. Sprinkle zest across surface. Toss well to combine.
Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Transfer to serving bowl, sprinkle with feta. Serve.

Notes

Couscous are tiny grains the size of cracked pepper. They are made from wheat - it's essential teeny pasta. Because it's so small, you just need to soak it. You can substitute with quinoa, barley or other grains - cook as required for those grains.
If you want to make this with Israeli or Pearl Couscous which are larger beads of couscous, cook per the packet (it needs to be boiled) then proceed wth the recipe but skip the soaking in boiled water.
Using stock powder or a crumbled bouillon cube goes a long way to add flavour to your couscous. Stock powder is basically bouillon cubes in powder form. 1 tsp = 1 cube. I like to use vegetable but chicken is also great. I use Vegeta. (PS Great to have on hand - of recipe calls for broth, just dissolve in hot water, 1 - 1 1/2 tsp per cup. Much more economical than buying liquid broth).
The alternative is to use boiled vegetable or chicken broth instead of water. Salt is a last resort - if you use salt, I would add 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/4 tsp each onion and garlic powder which will add more layers of flavour.
This recipe uses the oil in the sun dried tomato jar as the dressing. If you only have the sun dried tomatoes without oil, just drizzle olive oil over the salad - I think you'll need about 1/3 cup (80ml), maybe a bit more. There's far less than this in a jar of sun dried tomatoes but because the tomatoes themselves are soaked in the oil, it feels like there's more!
12 MINUTE COUSCOUS SALAD goes down like this: Get the couscous soaking, then start on the chopping. Because there's no separate dressing to make and assuming reasonable chopping skills, I bet you can get this on the table in 12 minutes!
STORAGE / MAKE AHEAD: Even dressed, this keeps well for 2 days or so because it's not leafy or weighed down with an oily dressing. To make ahead fresh, just place all the ingredients in a bowl except the sun dried tomato and lemon juice. Then add them just before serving and toss!
Nutrition per serving, assuming 10 servings.