Couscous Salad with Crabsticks

Hello again!

It has been a lazy Sunday today and for dinner I decided to make a light yet fulfilling dish. Couscous salad! Now this recipe is so easy to make and you can modify the ingredients according to your own taste. My sister gave me the idea of making this salad so I should thank her. ;)

Before the recipe, here's a little information about couscous. Being originally a North African dish, it has become popular in many countries. You'll find couscous in Lebanese, Moroccan, Italian and even French dishes, and those from other countries as well. It's made of durum wheat and it takes shorter time to cook than pasta. It can also be eaten alone, flavored or plain, warm or cold, or as a side dish.

So without further wait, here it is!

Ingredients:

Up to 3 servings

1/2 cup packaged dry couscous (mine is San Remo)

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

a pinch of salt

1/2 green pepper, chopped

2 small tomatoes, seeded and chopped

3 crabsticks, chopped

100 grams sweet corn kernels

For dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1) Combine water, olive oil and salt in a saucepan. Bring to boil. Remove from heat.

2) Add couscous and stir. Cover for 2-3 minutes.

3) Add butter and stir with a fork to separate the grains while heating it on very low heat for about 3 minutes.

4) Put couscous into a bowl. Set aside and let it cool.

5) In the meantime, chop green pepper, tomatoes and crabsticks.

6) Combine all ingredients for the dressing.

7) Finally, combine chopped green pepper, tomatoes, crabsticks, corn kernels with the couscous. Pour the dressing and mix thoroughly.

8) Put the couscous salad in the fridge for a few hours until cool.

The result is a refreshing salad with a  mixture of different flavours. I also like how colourful it turns out. Because of the couscous, it makes the dish milder than having pasta and it's healthy too. You can always add more amount of dressing into it. Some people really like the flavour of the red wine vinegar. One tip that I would like to share is: try not to add too much of the vegetables and crabsticks. Otherwise, you'll lose the couscous flavour which is the essential part of this dish.

Until next time! Cheers!


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