Easy Couscous Salad

Couscous is a staple food usually served with meat or vegetable over it, according to Wikipedia. Think rice bowls with viands on top of them that make your meal tastier. They even have the same calories per 100 grams.

In the Philippines, we can eat rice with almost anything, 3-5 times a day. Yes, including breakfast. When we arrived back here in Sweden, we wanted to try something else that we can pair up with meat that is not rice. So, we started eating couscous.

This couscous salad is definitely inspired and a variation of one of the couscous salads prepared by Jamie Oliver in one of his episodes in "Jamie's 15-Minute Meals". 

Ingredients

Couscous (200 grams)

Bell Peppers (1 red, 1 green, both small)

Balsamic Vinegar (2 tablespoons)

1 Whole Lemon

Basil

Directions

1. Boil 400 grams of hot water on a pan, remove from heat, pour couscous into the pan, and set aside. If you cannot be bothered by this, you can always try what Jamie Oliver does in his show: fill a cup with couscous and pour into a bowl, then fill the cup with hot water twice, and pour them both into the same bowl. Set aside and let the couscous swell for 5 minutes.
2. Slice the lemon in half.
3. When the couscous swells, squeeze both lemon slices into the bowl.
4. Chop the bell peppers, and add them into the bowl of couscous and mix.
5. Pour 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar. Balsamic vinegar is strong to the taste, but you can add a bit more later if you prefer.
6. Sprinkle with basil.

It is best that you serve the couscous salad while still warm, with your preferred viand. For this meal, we chose our red meat version of Tikka Massala, mixed with spices from Santa Maria and yes, a glass of cold milk each. In Sweden, most children are raised drinking almost nothing but milk. An average Swede can gulp a tall glass of milk in seconds without taking a breather!

So there, you have it! Our version of couscous salad inspired by Jamie Oliver and our very own version of Red (meat) Tikka Massala. Enjoy!