Thursday 13 November 2008

Mediterranean Couscous Salad and Award Time






This colourful summer Mediterranean salad is favourite of me and my hubby. My hubby, who always find an excuse not to eat veggies, also relish this salad. Mediterranean Couscous Salad is the salad. This low fat salad, but filling dish can be served as a side dish, or lunch or as a supper dish and can be cooked in a jiffy. It is great to take on picnics. Couscous salad is extremely versatile salad, once you know how to make it, you can add your choice of veggetables and herbs.

Couscous or Kuskus as it is known in Morocco is a Berber dish consisting of spherical granules made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them with finely ground wheat flour. The granules of couscous appears like Broken Wheat or Daliya, but they are bigger in size than Broken Wheat. Couscous is a primary staple throughout Morocco, Algeria and Libya. Properly cooked Couscous should be light and fluffy, not gummy or gritty.

Source: Wikipedia


Ingredients
1/2 Cup of Couscous
1 Cup of Vegetable Stock / Water
1 Teaspoon of Butter
2 Teaspoon of Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon of Dried Basil
1 Teaspoon of Dried Oregano
1 Teaspoon of Pepper Powder
1 Tablespoon of Chopped Garlic
2 Tablespoon of Finely Chopped Mint Leaves
2 Medium sized Shallots / Vidalia Onions
2 Tablespoon of Chopped Olives (Black and Green)
1 Bell Pepper (Colour of your choice)
4 Chopped Baby Corns
2 Tablespoon of Sun dried Tomatoes
1/2 Chopped Cucumber
1 Tablespoon of Soaked Sultans / Kish Mish
1/2 Cup of Butternut Squash (Optional)
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Soak the couscous as mentioned on the packet. The art of getting fluffy granules of couscous is the method of soaking the Couscous. First time when I made this salad it was bit soggy, because I soaked them for a longer time. Then I tried the below mentioned method and they turned out perfectly well. In a pan boil vegetable stock or water, once it starts boiling add 1 teaspoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of salt and mix it in the stock or water. When the butter dissolves add the couscous and remove the pan from the heat and keep on stirring the couscous for a minute. When the couscous turns soft drain them by using a sieve. Let couscous cool and in between keep on separating them with the help of a fork.
2. In a pan heat the olive oil, add garlic granules and shallots aont ond saute for few seconds. Later add all the vegetables, and herbs mentioned above along with salt to taste and sultans. Toss these vegetables till they are partially cooked. Don't overcook the vegetables and let them be bit raw.
3. Now take your serving bowl and mix the veggie and herby mixture to the couscous and toss it well.
4. Keep it in the referigetor and serve it cool.

Note: I have not added Butternut Squash, but if you enjoy the flavour one can add the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ramya Vijaykumar has shared with me Kreative Blog Award, Ramya Thank you for sharing this lovely award with me.



7 things I say more often
1. Shut Up!!
2. Oh! My GOD

3. Gosh!
4. Chooo Chweet!
5.
Simply at all!
6. Pleaseeeee....
7. Grrr......

7 things I did Before
1. Learned Dancing (Miss my Salsa and Jive Class).
2. Freaked out with Friends (Miss my days in Mumbai).

3. Listen to Radio till late.

4. Music Freak, Carry my Ipod everywhere
5. Organise Events (Typical HR quality ;)

6. Spend 3 Hours in Gym after my work
7. Fight with my Brother....

7 things I do now
1. Read loads of Books
2. Invite Guests over the place
3. Blogging consume lots of Time

4. Download loads of Song

5. Workouts
6. Experiment New Dishes on my Hubby ;)

7. Love traveling.

7 things I want to do
1. Start a discplined life again, not able to spend much time in the Gym now

2. Go back to my childhood days
3. Own a small cottage near the sea.
4. Travel the whole world.
5. Watch Olympics in the stadium
6. Have my own Dance School

7. Can prove to my Dad and Hubby, Ladies are better Driver :(


7 things that attract me about the opposite sex
1. Hazel Eyes
2. Witty Humor
3. Supportive and Understanding

4. Well Groomed
5. Articulate

6. Caring
7. Intelligent

7 favorite food
Now this is a difficult question, as it says only 7 and the list is exhaustive...
1. Thai Food
2. Samosa
3. Home cooked food
4. Chaat
5. Any Spicy Curry

6. Tiramisu Ice Cream
7. Chocolate and Walnut Brownie


I would like to share this Award with 7 Kreative Bloggers

Priti
Lubna
Anudivya
Rekha
Uma
Trupti
Jaishree

Adlak's Tiny World has Honoured me with Hard Working Blogger Award, Thanks Dear for such lovely gesture.



I would like to share this award with Fellwo Hard Working Food Bloggers

Ramya Vijaykumar
Malar
Ng33ma
Raaji
Viki
Gita
Lakshmi Venkatesh
Soma
Vij

Congrats Gals!! U'll Deserve this...

Adlak has also showered me with Inspirational Award, Good Job Award, Butterfly Award and Perfect Blend of Friendship Award.....Thank you Gal this means a lot to me...




36 comments:

Finla 13 November 2008 at 18:20  

Congrats with the awards and i love couscous.

Sagari 13 November 2008 at 18:43  

lovely couscous purva

anudivya 13 November 2008 at 19:26  

Thanks so much for sharing the Kreative award Purva. My first time getting it, so am happy.
So I need to do the 7 facts thingy too?
Girl, you spend 3 hrs at the gym??? I can hardly make it to 45 min everyday!

Mahimaa's kitchen 13 November 2008 at 19:37  

never had couscous in my life.. though i have heard a lot about it.. ur salad looks delicious.

Priya Suresh 13 November 2008 at 19:55  

Wow delicious couscous..congrats on ur award, u deserve it really..

raaji 13 November 2008 at 20:04  

Congrats purva !!!!!
Thanks for sharing it with me......
Salad is lovely dear

Uma 13 November 2008 at 20:10  

wow, delicious salad. looks so mouth-watering.

Congrats on those beautiful awards Purva! You learned dance? Great! And you spent 3 hrs at gym? Wow, great job again! I wish I could do that!

Thank you so much for thinking about me dear! Will do it soon!

Anonymous,  13 November 2008 at 20:21  

Thanks Purva:-)

Ramya Vijaykumar 13 November 2008 at 20:23  

Congrats on the award dear and thanks for sharing it with me... not to forget the Couscous lovely dish... Nice reading about you chweetie...

TNL 13 November 2008 at 20:31  

thank you again...my dear for the award. it was nice reading more about you...I share the love of music with you too. :)

I'll post the award and do the meme on my dahi vada post tonight. Have a lovely day ahead.

cheers,trupti

Deepthi Shankar 13 November 2008 at 20:36  

thatz a healthy salad .. looks yummy .. loved reading your meme purva

CurryLeaf 13 November 2008 at 20:39  

Healthy salad.I too love it.Nice reading your meme :)

Yasmeen 13 November 2008 at 20:51  

Congrats on all your awards!
Ladies definitely are careful drivers:).Healthy couscous ,looks delicious:)

Gita Jaishankar 13 November 2008 at 21:38  

Congrats on the awards Purva, nice knowing facts about you. Thank you soo much for passing on the award and for your encouragment. I am honored :)

Chandani 13 November 2008 at 21:49  

nice post purva:) salad looks lovely...

Sum Raj 13 November 2008 at 22:52  

nice reading ur meme...and mouthwataring couscous salad..

Unknown 13 November 2008 at 23:24  

lovely couscous purva.congrats on ur awards...

Usha 14 November 2008 at 01:41  

Congrats on both your awards, enjoyed reading your 7 things series...the Mediterranean salad looks very yum...

Jaishree Iyer 14 November 2008 at 05:03  

Congrats on those beautiful awards Purva ! u really deserve it .Thanks for sharing it with me...... I am honored :) its really nice to know about you. salad looks very yum...

Vijitha 14 November 2008 at 06:19  

lovely couscous salad!! i love it!

Congrats on ur awards!

Thanks a bunch for sharing one wit me! U made my day!

lubnakarim06 14 November 2008 at 07:10  

Thank you for the award dear. Nice reading those likes and dislikes etc.... Couscous salad looks yum.

vidhas 14 November 2008 at 08:23  

Congrats on your award. Nice to read about you. There is something waiting for you in my blog.

Priya Suresh 14 November 2008 at 09:44  

Got something for u..pls check it out..http://priyaeasyntastyrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/11/awards-time.html

Kitchen Chronicles 14 November 2008 at 10:11  

Couscous Salad salad looks very nice and tempting. And thanks a lot for the Hard Working Award. I am very happy to receive it.

Sukanya Yogesh 14 November 2008 at 11:19  

Iam definitely going to try this Salad. Enjoy your awards Purva, you deserve it.

Indranee Batabyal 14 November 2008 at 13:49  

Congrats on your shower of awards! And the salad looks yummy!

Bhawana 14 November 2008 at 14:17  

Purva dear nice to know about you thru ur meme. And Congratulations for your Award. Add me in ur gmail id. bhawana.1980@gmail.com

Yasmeen 14 November 2008 at 15:44  

A surprise for you in my blog:)

Unknown 14 November 2008 at 16:25  

congrats on u r awards dear and thank s to passing it to me nice couscous recipe ihave some couscous will try this sure

Recipeswap 14 November 2008 at 17:57  

Purva yummy couscous....congrats on all the well deserved awards and thanks for thinking of me.....made my day!

Uma 15 November 2008 at 00:56  

I would like to treat you as well.

Please visit my place for a treat:

http://teluguruchi.blogspot.com/2008/11/old-post-and-some-sweet-surprises.html

Gita Jaishankar 15 November 2008 at 02:22  

Please check my blog, I have something for you :)

Joie de vivre 15 November 2008 at 05:13  

I love how easy couscous is. 5 minutes and it's done. Amazing.

Food for thought 15 November 2008 at 15:01  

Congrats Purva and thanks for sharing the award with me .
Couscous salad looks yummy. Love it very much.

Laavanya 15 November 2008 at 18:54  

Nice to read your meme Purva and know a bit more abt you... you used to spend 3 hrs at the gym? that's dedication.

Laavanya 15 November 2008 at 18:54  

Of course.. the salad looks awesome.. sorry got carried away by the meme i forgot to write about your lovely salad :)

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