Curried Couscous Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing
Ingredients
Scale
For the dressing
- 1/3 C. fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
- 2 tsp. honey
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 2 tsp. minced 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
- 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.
- Stir in peas, red pepper, onions, nuts and mint*
- 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.)
- 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)