Couscous Fruity Salad
This recipe was originally found in Cooking Light magazine. I've saved it for years but never digitized it.
This recipe was originally found in Cooking Light magazine. I've saved it for years but never digitized it.
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup fresh mint
- 2 cups orange juice divided
- 10 ounces couscous (about 1 2/3 cup)
- 1/2 cup dried apricots sliced
- 1/2 cup dried currants
- 1 cup cucumber chopped and seeded
- 3/4 cup green onion chopped
- 1/2 cup pistachios coarsley chopped
- Carbohydrate 96.0818122539813 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 9.44680255130566 g
- Fiber 8.52963068579214 g
- Protein 14.9171534977765 g
- Saturated Fat 1.21503262729473 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (335g)
- Sodium 24.3868112810857 mg
- Sugar 87.5521815681892 g
- Trans Fat 0.72554868040014 g
- Calories 517 calories
Step-by-step
- Bring 1/2 cups of orange juice and water and salt to a boil.
- Add couscous.
- Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 5 minutes.
- Fluff with a fork and place in a large bowl.
- Combine 1/2 cup orange juice, apricots, currants, and vinegar in a small saucepan.
- Bring to a boil.
- Remove from heat and let stand 15 minutes.
- Drain and discard cooking liquid.
- Add apricot mixture, cucumber, and remaining ingredients to couscous, tossing to combine.
- Cool in refrigerator.
Hydrating semolina pasta requires precise heat management to avoid gummy textures. Boiling a precise mixture of orange juice, water, and salt before introducing the dry grain ensures each granule plumps evenly without forming dense clumps. Removing the pot from the heat source immediately after adding the couscous prevents scorching on the base of a standard metal saucepan.
Dry fruits need specialized softening before they integrate properly into cold salads. Simmering dried apricots and currants in orange juice and red wine vinegar plumps the fruit cells while infusing them with acid. Draining that liquid thoroughly after 15 minutes of resting prevents excess moisture from diluting the dressing later.
Compacting large quantities in compact refrigerators requires strategic container choice. Spreading the tossed mixture across a shallow glass dish accelerates cooling compared to leaving it in a deep mixing bowl. Doubling or halving the batch relies entirely on maintaining the precise liquid-to-grain ratio, though wider pans become necessary when scaling upward to ensure uniform chilling.
Chilling the dish for at least one hour allows the mint, green onion, and lemon juice to penetrate the semolina fully. Coarsely chopped pistachios should be added just prior to serving to preserve their crunch against the tender fruit and grains.
