Sides · By Jocelyn
Israeli Couscous Salad
My roommate in Toronto, Morgan, introduced me to the idea of this salad during the lockdown. I've played with the recipe, adding more strong flavours, eventually settling on this version. It's full of great tang, fresh vegetables, and those fun little pearls of pasta. This salad is great as a meal prep: I make the salad on the weekend and then eat portions of it with cooked fish or falafel during the week. It's great on its own too. It's a mild flavoured salad, so don't serve it with anything too bossy tasting.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked Israeli couscous (do NOT use regular couscous)
- 2¼ cups water
- 2 cups finely diced cucumber (~3 small English cucumbers or ¾ large English)
- 1½ cups finely diced orange/yellow/red bell pepper (~1 medium pepper)
- 2–3 green onions, finely diced
- 3 tbsp olive or avocado oil (or some of both)
- 1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 1½ tbsp grainy dijon mustard
- 1 tsp finely chopped dill
- 1 tsp salt or garlic salt
- 2–3 cloves of garlic, finely diced or squeezed
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp dried chili flakes
- 1 radish, thinly sliced/mandolined per portion
Method
- 1
Combine the couscous and water in a pot and bring to a boil. For 1 cup of couscous, use 1¼ cups water. For every additional cup of couscous, use 1 more cup of water.
- 2
Once the couscous is boiling, turn the heat down and simmer, covered, for 8–10 minutes. Stir every couple of minutes. You want all of the liquid to be absorbed and the couscous to be al dente.
- 3
Put the cooked couscous into a large bowl, drizzle some olive oil on top, mix, and set aside to cool. If you're making the salad right away, you can put the bowl in the freezer, stirring every 5 minutes or so to ensure it doesn't clump.
- 4
For the sauce, mix the green onion, olive or avocado oil, white balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, dill, salt, garlic, pepper, and chili flakes in a small bowl.
- 5
Add the chopped cucumber, bell pepper, and sauce to the cooled couscous. Mix well and refrigerate.
- 6
Take the salad out of the fridge for 10 minutes or so before eating. I find it tastes better at room temperature. Add the sliced radishes to each portion and mix. I add the radishes at this point because otherwise they taint the salad with a strong radish taste and lose their crunch somewhat.
- 7
Top with greens and fish or falafel or serve as a side with fish.
A note from Jocelyn
This recipe makes enough for 4–5 large meal-sized portions. It stays well in the fridge for a week, the vegetables are just less crunchy as time goes on. Drink/wine pairing: with fish, chardonnay or sauvignon blanc; with anything else, white wine of any sort.
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