HEAVENLY COUSCOUS SALAD

This savoury couscous salad is like nothing you have ever tasted before. It's easy to make, gluten and allergen-free, alkaline-forming and rich in vital nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants. Secondly, it's packed with nourishing, tasty, and easy-to-digest plant protein. And finally, when served with the olive oil-lemon-matcha dressing, your taste buds will get very excited. It's an ideal dish to fill your lunchbox or invite your friends to dine. 


Ingredients for 4 - 6 servings:
1/2 cauliflower (500gr), cut in flowerets
1 sweet potato (350gr), cut in quarters lengthwise, then in thick slices
white sea salt *
ground black pepper 
olive oil, virgin cold pressed *
250gr rice or corn couscous *
spring water
bunch of fresh parsley (70g), fine cut 
150gr cooked corn kernels
100gr black olives pitted and fine cut
1 cup dried chickpeas *, soaked overnight in 3 cups of water
or 200gr cooked chickpeas *, from a can or jar
8cm piece kombu sea vegetable *

Dressing:
4 tablespoons olive oil, virgin cold pressed *
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons umeboshi vinegar *
2 teaspoons matcha green tea powder *

* Tampopo Foods product


Step by step:

1. Discharge the soaking water from the chickpeas, add twice as much fresh water, and then cook with kombu in a pressure cooker for at least 75 minutes or in a regular pan for 2 - 2,5 hours. For the best result, you want the chickpeas to be buttery soft. You will need for this recipe eventually only 200gr of cooked chickpeas. So, the remaining chickpeas you can use for soup or houmous.

2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the cauliflower and sweet potato on a baking tray, drizzle with 5 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of white sea salt and a generous amount of pepper. Roast in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes, until everything is crispy cooked and has light brown edges.

3. Bring 350 ml water to a boil in a pan. 

4. Place the couscous, 1/4 teaspoon of white sea salt, a generous amount of pepper and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a salad bowl and stir. Pour the boiling water over the couscous. The water should come out just slightly above the couscous. Cover the bowl with a plate or a lid, so the steam stays trapped, and the couscous can "cook". Let rest for about 10 minutes. Remove the cover and stir lightly with a fork.

5. Make the dressing by combining all ingredients in a bowl. Add 200gr cooked, drained chickpeas, stir and let marinate for 5 minutes.

6. Add the cauliflower and sweet potato (including the juice released during baking), parsley, corn kernels, black olives, and marinated chickpeas with the dressing to the couscous. Stir gently, adjust the taste to your liking and serve.

Tips:
Use white beans *, red kidney beans * or borlotti beans * instead of chickpeas *.
Make it with a spelt coucous *.
Or alternate the matcha green tea powder * with fine moringa powder.


So yummy!

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