Nothing better than a couscous salad with something crunchy right? To make sure you get healthy fiber from vegetables and legumes in addition to grains, I added these crunchy chickpeas to the couscous salad. It gives the salad just a little more body and makes you feel fuller. What more could you want?
By the way, you can vary endlessly in terms of vegetables, as I think all vegetables taste great in this salad. Small soft cubes of eggplant (sauté well for a while because you don’t want a rubbery taste, of course) are also a good addition, for example, or how about zucchini?
Would you prefer gluten-free? Then replace the couscous in quinoa and sauté it briefly with garlic and a shallot in a vegetable broth.
Couscous salad with cripsy tumeric chickpeas
Ingredients
- 400 gram chickpeas
- 2 tbsp tumeric turmeric
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 200 gram couscous choose whole wheat for higher nutritional value
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 onion
- 1 root
- 1 bell pepper
- 2 tbsp rash el hanout
- 1 lemon use a half if you don’t like the lemon flavor very much
- bunch cilantro
- bunch coin
- 30 gram pumpkin seeds
- hand raisins
Preparation
- Start with the chickpeas. Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees. Grab a baking sheet and place baking paper on it. If using canned chickpeas, rinse them well first and dry them. Put them in a bowl and mix with 2 tbsp turmeric and 1 tsp ground cumin.
- Spread the chickpeas on the baking sheet and put in the oven for 20-30 minutes depending on how strong your oven is. Check halfway through and flip them over. When they are ready remove them from the oven.
- When the chickpeas are in the oven, cut the onion into rings or pieces. Heat some archanide oil in a frying pan and fry the onion rings over low heat until almost caramelized.
- While baking, you can already peel and chop the carrot, chop the bell bell pepper and chop the garlic. Always keep an eye on the onion, though. Add the vegetables and garlic to the onion and sauté still on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Finely chop the mint and cilantro. And cut the lemon in half. Prepare the couscous as directed on the package.
- Take another frying pan and fry the pumpkin seeds in it. When they bulge then you know they are ready. Put this away as well.
- Next, take a large bowl and add the couscous here. Mix with 2 tbsp ras el hanout. Then add the sautéed vegetables and the chopped herbs (mint and cilantro). Mix well.
- Now spoon the crispy chickpeas through the couscous salad and top with the fried pumpkin seeds, some raisins and some olive oil, if desired.
- Delicious with a scoop of hummus through it!
Notes
Prefer something else? Then check out the other salads or maybe you fancy Indonesian rendang with jackfruit? Or just an Iranian soup?
During my trip in Morocco (yes these should be online too ;-)) I ate such delicious couscous salads. By the way, did you know that couscous is very important to Moroccan culture? Often families put this dish on the table every Friday. Every family has its own secret recipe, but one thing is certain: couscous is serious business!
Should you ever get the chance to eat a truly authentic couscous with Moroccans, don’t miss it! If you do not have the opportunity to travel to Morocco, experiment at home in the kitchen.
