I'm in trial now, so I was so happy with this week's quick and easy barefoot bloggers' recipe selected by Ellyn of Recipe Collector and Tester. I was also relieved to make a healthy dish since I still have an extra 5 on me from last month's brownie binge! An old friend of mine from Napa turned me on to couscous about 8 years ago. It is one of my favorite side dishes. I tend to think of it more as a "salad" and I throw everything in it (depending on whatever I have in stock) from grape tomatoes to asparagus to feta cheese to kalamata olives. They key is adding olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper so it's not tasteless. My favorite way to enjoy couscous is usually with roasted chicken or steak and a big glass of wine. Not this week. It was a water with lemon night.
I thought the curry was a delicious twist and I am so happy to mix it up a bit! I ended up substituting sour cream for the yogurt (because I had no time to go to the market) and I reduced the salt substantially.
Curried Couscous
Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
1 1/4 cup of water
1 cup of couscous
roughly 1/4 cup of good olive oil
1-2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar
1-2 tablespoons of sour cream
1 teaspoon of curry powder
1/4 teaspoon of tumeric
a little less than 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup of diced red onions
1/2 cup of scallions
1 tablespoon of flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
1/4 cup of almond slices
Boil water in pot. Add couscous, remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes.
Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, sour cream, curry powder, tumeric, salt and pepper in small bowl. In medium bowl add red onions, scallions, parsley, cranberries, almonds and couscous. Pour dressing over salad and toss.
Bon Appétit!
