Israeli Couscous Salad with Roasted Vegetables
Israeli Couscous Salad is a hearty dish that is perfect for lunch or dinner on a hot summer evening. Lemon Roasted Vegetables bring flavour and colour to this delicious dish.
Page Contents
What is Israeli Cous Cous?
I am a big fan of salads made with grains. From freekeh to bulgur wheat, and of course couscous. Israeli couscous is no exception. I love adding these soft pearls to veggies to create a delicious lunch or light dinner.
But what actually is Israeli couscous? You may also have seen it sold as pearl couscous or giant couscous. But it isn’t actually couscous at all.
Couscous is made by crushing durum wheat semolina and then forming it into small granules or spheres.
Israeli couscous on the other hand is toasted pasta that has been shaped in to tiny balls! It gets its name “Israeli couscous” as it was developed in Israel in the 1950s when rice was difficult to come by.
How do you prepare Israeli Couscous?
There’s a lot of controversy around how to cook Israeli or pearl cous cous. Some people say that you should cook it like pasta, simmering and then draining off any excess liquid once it’s tender. Others say you should use a 1:1.5 ratio of pearl cous cous to water then let it simmer until all of the liquid has been absorbed.
I prefer the second technique because I don’t use water, I use stock. It would be a huge waste to drain away any excess stock so I let it simmer until all of that flavour has been soaked up.
Once it is cooked you can enjoy it hot or cold.
Israeli couscous at room temperature for a few hours so you don’t need to worry about leaving it out at a BBQ or as part of a buffet. In the fridge it can last for up to three days. This makes it idea for cooking a large batch and then using it over the course of a few days.
One thing you should bear in mind though is that once it has been mixed with other ingredients (like these lemon roasted vegetables) this will shorten it’s fridge life. In the unlikely event you do have leftovers, keep them in the fridge and enjoy within 36 hours.
Roasted Vegetables
I love to add chunky roasted vegetables to Israeli couscous. The couscous isn’t small so why finely dice your veggies?
If you’ve made a big batch of my Lemon Roasted Veggies then they would be the perfect addition. You can, however choose any roasted vegetables that are in season. One of my favourite vegetables to include is French beans.
You prepare the vegetables separately to the Israeli couscous then combine them once everything has cooled down. A good squeeze of lemon, a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds and some fresh herbs finished the dish perfectly.
The recipe
My Israeli Couscous Salad with Roasted vegetables is delicious served warm or cold. It will serve 2 as a lunch or 4 people as a side dish.
Israeli Couscous Salad with Roasted Vegetables
Ingredients
For the roasted vegetables
- 1 red onion roughly chopped
- 1 courgette sliced
- 1 aubergine cut into half moons
- 1 red pepper roughly chopped
- 125 grams kalamata olives pitted
- 1 head garlic broken into cloves and peeled
- 250 grams cherry tomatoes
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the couscous
- 150 grams giant couscous also known as pearl couscous or Israeli couscous
- 200 ml vegetable stock
For the dressing
- 1 lemon juice only
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves only
- 1 tbsp parsley leaves only
- 4 tbsp pomegranate seeds
Instructions
For the roasted vegetables
- Pre-heat your oven to 200 C / 400 F / gas mark 6
- Arrange the chopped vegetables, lemon and garlic on to a sheet pan.
- Drizzle over the olive oil and salt and pepper, toss the vegetables carefully to ensure they are all coated.
- Roast in the centre of the oven for 30-45 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
For the couscous
- Once the vegetables are out of the oven, place the giant couscous into a sauce pan along with the stock.
- Bring to the boil over a medium-high heat and then reduce to a simmer.
- Cook for 10 minutes or until tender and the stock is absorbed.
- Drain any excess liquid and leave to cool before combining with the warm roasted vegetables.
- Combine any leftover juices from the roasted vegetables with the juice of the lemon. Pour this dressing over the salad and toss.
- Serve with a scattering of fresh coriander and parsley leaves and the pomegranate seeds.
Nutrition
Serve with…
This salad is great on its own but it would also serve really well with a herby roast chicken, a medium-rare steak, lamb kofta or marinated beef skewers.
Crispy fried halloumi would also work really well too!
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