A simple vegetarian salad, filled with veggies, crunchy almonds, creamy feta, sweet dates and a whole lot of flavour from the spiced couscous – an easy summer salad perfect for your next BBQ!
This Week
2 Dec - 8 Dec
Meal Prep Guide
Cut the vegetables (store together in an airtight container in the fridge)
- 2 eggplants (diced)
- 2 zucchini (diced)
- 1 capsicum (diced)
- 1 red onion (diced)
Make the spice mix (store in an airtight jar in the pantry)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Add all the ingredients into a small jar.
Roast ⅓ cup of almonds (store in an airtight jar in the pantry)
Make the Dressing (store in an airtight jar in the fridge)
*bring to room temperature before serving
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove (crushed)
- Salt and pepper
- Add all the ingredients into a small jar and shake well to combine.
Tips
- This salad is perfect served alongside grilled meat of choice.
- We have used couscous in this salad as we love how quick and easy it is to cook, perfect when entertaining. However, this salad is delicious with whatever grain you have on hand.
- Cooking your grains and legumes in stock, aromatics and/or spices, help add depth to a dish without a whole lot of effort. Next time you are cooking quinoa or lentils try adding half a lemon (skin and all) and some whole garlic cloves.
Shortcuts
Vegetables
- Add roasted cauliflower.
- Add spinach or rocket.
Protein
- Serve with a side of grilled chicken or meat of choice, our oregano chicken thighs would be delicious as would our koftas.
Other
- Swap couscous for quinoa, cook as perfect instructions with added spices and with broth or stock if you are using.
- Swap almonds for pine nuts or pistachios
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants (diced)
- 2 zucchini (diced)
- 1 capsicum (diced)
- 1 red onion (diced)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¾ cup stock / broth or water
- ¾ cup couscous
- ⅓ cup almonds (roasted and roughly chopped)
- 1 x 400g tin chickpeas (rinsed, drained and patted dry)
- ¼ cup dried dates (finely sliced)
- 100g feta (crumbled)
- ⅓ cup mint (roughly chopped)
- ⅓ cup coriander (roughly chopped)
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Dressing
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove (crushed)
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius, fan bake.
- Add the eggplant, zucchini, capsicum and red onion to a large roasting tray (you may need to spread them across two trays). Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 minutes or until golden and cooked.
- While the vegetables are roasting, cook the couscous. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, add about 1 Tbsp of olive oil and the spices (cumin, coriander, turmeric and cinnamon), cook for 1 minute or until fragrant; add the broth or water and bring to the boil. Stir in the couscous and season with salt; cover tightly with a lid, then remove from heat. Allow the couscous steam for 5 minutes before removing the lid and fluffing with a fork.
- In a small bowl or jar, add all of the dressing ingredients and mix well to combine.
- In a large bowl, add the couscous, roasted vegetables, almonds, chickpeas, dates, feta, mint and coriander. Pour over the dressing and toss well; season to taste.
Variations
Vegetables
- Add roasted cauliflower.
- Add spinach or rocket.
Protein
- Serve with a side of grilled chicken or meat of choice, our oregano chicken thighs would be delicious as would our koftas.
Other
- Swap couscous for quinoa, cook as perfect instructions with added spices and with broth or stock if you are using.
- Swap almonds for pine nuts or pistachios
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