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Curried Couscous Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing

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Curried Couscous Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing is a yummy main course vegetarian salad that’s easily adapted for all the meat loving people out there by adding some grilled chicken. It’s vibrant, flavorful and so simple to toss together!

Curried Couscous Salad tossed in a Ginger Lime Dressing and served with grilled chicken. Omit the chicken for a perfect vegetarian meal. Healthy and delicious!

Curried Couscous Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing and grilled chickenThis recipe for curried couscous salad with ginger lime dressing from Main Course Vegetarian Pleasures (affiliate link) caught my eye. I love quick and easy main course salads and this one turned out delicious! It takes very little time to make and is so full of tantalizing flavors.  Of course, there’s a predominate curry flavor from the curry powder, but the golden raisins and mint add nice sweetness and balance out the somewhat tart ginger lime dressing. 

Curried Couscous SaladI love a good curried chicken salad so I decided to add some chicken to the mix. I quickly seasoned and grilled a couple chicken breasts and sliced them up to serve on top of each portion.  You could just cube the chicken and mix it in with the couscous if you wanted.

Curried Couscous Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing and grilled chickenIf you’re a vegetarian or just looking to enjoy a meatless meal give this curried couscous salad with ginger lime dressing a try.  If you’re not a vegetarian and want a little meat with your salad, simply top with some some grilled chicken like I did!

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Curried Couscous Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing

Curried Couscous Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing and grilled chicken

Ingredients

Scale

For the dressing

  • 1/3 C. fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
  • 2 tsp. honey
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
  • 2 cloves garlic, minded
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. pepper
  • 1/3 C. olive oil

For the salad

  • 1 1/2 C. couscous
  • 1 C. golden raisins
  • 2 tsp. curry powder
  • 2 C. boiling water
  • 1 1/2 C. frozen peas, thawed
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1/3 C. small diced red onion
  • 3/4 C. roasted, unsalted nuts (I used a combination of cashews and sliced almonds)
  • 1/4 C. chopped mint (could use a little cilantro too if you want)
  • 3 chicken breasts – optional

Instructions

  1. Combine couscous, raisins and curry powder in large serving bowl. Add boiling water and stir. Cover tightly and let sit for 5 minutes. Uncover, fluff with fork, cover and let sit another 10 minutes. Uncover and and let couscous sit until it’s cooled to room temperature.
  2. Stir in peas, red pepper, onions, nuts and mint*
  3. Add dressing to couscous salad and combine well. Let the salad sit at least 30 minutes before serving. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. (You can cover and chill up to 24 hours. Bring to room temperature prior to serving.)
  4. If adding chicken, drizzle some olive oil over chicken breasts. Season with salt & pepper, a few shakes of curry powder and cumin. Grill chicken. Place sliced grilled chicken on top of couscous salad (or cut up the chicken and add it directly stirred into the salad).

Notes

*If you are not serving this salad right away, hold off on adding the nuts and mint until prior to serving to keep the nuts crunchy and the mint fresh.

(Recipe slightly modified from Main Course Vegetarian Pleasures)

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