Couscous Salad with Chickpeas, dried fruit and harissa roasted vegetables, a deliciously spiced dish with Moroccan flavours. Ready in about 20 minutes, this salad is absolutely delicious. The harissa paste gives it a distinctive exotic flavour and an earthy heat, while the dried fruit work beautifully with the roasted vegetables.
This might not be a traditional salad with green leaves and a dressing, but a much more sophisticated, exotic dish that screams perfection. After my Moroccan chicken tagine, I fell in love with the Moroccan flavours, and decided to go for something as flavourful, but light and low calorie.
Despite the fact that it can be served as a salad, it can definitely be considered a side dish too, and it goes perfectly well with any roast. If you are looking for a nice packed lunch option, this Moroccan salad is the perfect recipe, especially if you like healthy food.
Plain couscous might be boring to some people, although I actually quite like having it that way. But throw in a few spices, some nicely roasted veggies coated in harissa paste, some dried fruit, and you get one awesome couscous recipe.
How to make couscous salad with chickpeas
Making it at home cost me a lot less than buying the ready-made version stores have to offer. Couscous only needs to be hydrated, which means it's ready in less than 5 minutes. But adding the roasted vegetables really takes this salad to the very next level, so do not skip this step.
- chop the aubergine (eggplant) and red pepper, add 2 tablespoons of harissa paste, and mix well to coat
- roast in the pre-heated oven at 200 degrees Celsius (390 Fahrenheit) for 10-15 minutes until tender
- add the couscous, turmeric, cumin, ground coriander and dried fruit to a large bowl, pour over the boiling water (or any kind of broth) and cover.
The water will be completely absorbed, and the couscous will double its volume, so keep that in mind when deciding how many servings you need.
The boiling water will hydrate the dried fruit too, but you can just throw them in after the couscous is ready.
- add the chickpeas, roasted vegetables and parsley, give it a good stir, season with salt to taste, and the salad is ready
Easy swaps
This recipe is pure pleasure, and it's very popular in the UK. In almost every shop, there ready-made couscous salad. I have tried a few of them, but I found the amount of cumin used quite overwhelming.
The harissa vegetables aren't a usual addition, but I find that they add such a great Moroccan touch, that I had to add them. But they can be left out, in which case you can proceed with the recipe without them.
Other dried fruit that work well in a couscous salad are apricots, prunes, dates or a combination of any of them.
If you don't have harissa paste, any spicy sauce can be used instead, or just roast the vegetables simple, the salad will still be nice and spiced.
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Couscous Salad with Chickpeas and harissa roasted vegetables, a deliciously spiced dish with Moroccan flavours. Ready in about 20 minutes, this salad is absolutely delicious. The harissa paste gives it a distinctive exotic flavour and an earthy heat, while the dried fruit work beautifully with the roasted vegetables.
- 1 cup couscous
- ½ cup dried cranberries and raisins
- 1 red pepper
- ½ aubergine (eggplant)
- 1 ½ cup boiling water
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon harissa paste
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- salt to taste
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas
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Chop the aubergine and red pepper, add the harissa paste, and mix well to coat.
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Roast in the pre-heated oven at 200 degrees Celsius (390 Fahrenheit) for 10-15 minutes until tender.
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Add the couscous, dried fruit and spices to a large bowl, pour over the boiling water, cover the bowl with a lid or a large plate, and set aside for 5 minutes.
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Use a fork to fluff it up, add the roasted vegetables, chickpeas and parsley, and stir well to combine.
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Serve it either warm or cold.
- you can use any kind of broth (stock) instead of boiling water, the chicken or vegetable ones being particularly nice
- use any other dried fruit like apricot, prunes or dates
- add a pinch of chilli peppers, for a hot and spicy kick
- if you don't have harissa paste, not to worry, just add the ground cumin, turmeric, and coriander, and some smoked paprika to the vegetables, or any other spicy sauce
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