Whole Wheat Couscous Salad
Ingredients
3/4 cup whole wheat couscous
1 cup chicken stock (or vegetarian stock)
2 tsp. olive oil + 1 T olive oil for dressing
2 persimmons, peeled and diced into pieces about 1/2 inch square
1 cup purple seedless grapes, washed and sliced into round pieces
1/3 cup sliced green onion, mostly green parts
1/3 cup finely chopped mint (or use parsley or cilantro)
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest (optional, but recommended)
Pinch of ground cumin
salt to taste for seasoning couscous
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
Directions:
1. Add couscous to boiling water or stock, when it boils, stir in couscous, cover pan and let sit 5-10 minutes.
2. After five minutes the stock is absorbed, fluff it up and let it cool.
3. While the couscous is cooking in the hot stock, prep the other ingredients. Peel and dice the persimmons, and cut the grapes into slices.
4. Use mostly the green parts of green onions for this, and cut them fairly thin.
5. If you don’t have mint, you could use parsley or cilantro in this salad.
6. When all the ingredients are chopped, mix the diced persimmon, sliced grapes, sliced green onions, and chopped mint in a bowl that’s big enough to hold the couscous also.
7. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and pinch of cumin and then just mixed it into the couscous right in the pan. Taste couscous and see if you want to add any salt.
8. Mix the seasoned couscous into the persimmon-grape mixture and use a large spoon to gently combine.
9. Heat a pan and toast the pine nuts for 1-2 minutes. As soon as you see a few nuts getting some color on them, turn off the heat and add the pine nuts to the salad. Serve at room temperature.