RECIPE: Soft and Bite Sized, Level 6- Spiced Pearl Couscous Salad

Keep your side dish interesting with this spicy take on pearl Couscous. Packed with veggies and plenty of flavour, serve it a cool side salad or warm, hearty accompaniment 🥰

Soft and Bite Sized, Level 6- Spiced Pearl Couscous Salad

I'll admit, I've sat on this Spiced Pearl Couscous Salad for a while now. I made it a few times to play around with the textures and the presentation and I just didn't feel like my camera work did it justice (sigh). So hear I am, hoping my writing will convince you that this is one of the easiest and simplest crowd favourites so far. When I say crowd, I mean the friends that I force feed my creations to for feedback, validation and critique (thank you, thank you, thank you). Each time I made this a little bit different it was still a hit so I think we're onto a winner 🥇

My favourite part about this recipe is that I (we) enjoyed this warm and fresh as much as I (we) did after a few hours in the fridge. My biggest critique though is that it was a little bit sticky when it was cold compared to warm or room temperature where it was a bit more slippery smooth. To reiterate, for your lay person, this won't make a difference but for someone who needs those "extra sauces and gravies" or find moving food around their mouth or down their throat a little challenging, that note can make all the difference ‼️

Now I chose to use cauliflower, sweet potato and roasted capsicums because I personally love these flavours and think the colour pallet works with the yellow spice mix. However... In the spirit of getting creative in the kitchen, there is absolutely no reason why you couldn't use any other root vegetable, coloured vegetable or whatever you have left in your fridge or pantry. As long as they can be chopped small, cooked to a soft texture and taste good to you.

Some examples of this might be beetroot, alternative sweet potatoes, broccoli, kohlrabi, zucchini, carrots... the list goes on. The key is that you follow the guidelines of soft and bite sized for each vegetable to prepare them appropriately, including things like peeling and de-seeding.

Another ingredient that holds some space for play is the greek yoghurt. I picked a kind that I particularly like and tends to be on the creamier and smoother side. Given the intention to add spices and mix through some otherwise dry ingredients (the couscous and cooked vegetables), you'll want to opt for a creamier, runnier and smoother brand of yoghurt. Otherwise, you run the risk of the sauce being too sticky and becoming a choking risk. Alternatively, you can play with the amount of lemon juice you add to the yoghurt. The more juice, the more liquid, the further and easier the yoghurt sauce will spread. Careful though, you don't want the mix to get too sour or overshadow the spices so taste testing is key hear. Go nuts. 👩🏻‍🔬

Another trick to this recipe is that, ultimately, if you're needing to further modify to a more minced and moist consistency, all your have to do is chop your vegetables up smaller, or even grate them. The couscous is a naturally occurring minced texture so doesn't need to be further modified. This is key because it's the only ingredient that we're not changing to accommodate the recipe. Also, if the vegetable pieces are smaller, you'll probably not need quite so much sauce. So reduce the amount of yoghurt by trial and error, though I would keep the ratios of spices and lemon juice the same.

Don't you love when it's a crowd favourite AND can flex across IDDSI levels. Told you she was a winner 😏

Spiced Pearl Couscous Salad

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of pearl couscous

½ a head of cauliflower, diced into 1.5cm pieces

1 medium sweet potato, diced as above

3x preserved roasted capsicums, diced as above

500g greek yoghurt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons turmeric

Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Boil the cauliflower and sweet potato separately until tender and easily broken up with a fork.

2. Cook the couscous per instructions on the packet.

3. Allow all ingredients to cool.

4. Add the yoghurt, lemon juice, cumin and turmeric to a bowl and stir until well-combined.

5. Once the couscous, cauliflower and sweet potato are cool, place in a mixing bowl together with the roasted capsicums and greek yoghurt sauce. Stir until well combined. 

6. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve fresh and warm, or chilled, for a crowd pleasing side ✨