Giant Couscous salad with olives and tomatoes, tossed in harissa dressing, is a scrumptiously wonderful and filling side dish / light meal. This salad is all things summery and easily customizable with variety of vegetables and ingredients.
What is Couscous?
Couscous is small granules of durum wheat, and a main part of Magherbi cuisine. It is a staple dish of the region and the word couscous means well shaped and well rounded.
It is very easy to prepare, rich is selenium, good source of plant protein and helps boosting the immune system.It is a great choice of grain to be included in the diet. I often use couscous to make Festive Couscous Salad, or sometimes I serve plain couscous with chickpea stew. Giant couscous salad is wonderful, easy, and healthy way to incorporate it into your diet.
Giant Couscous Salad
This giant couscous salad is prefect way to enjoy with seasonal summer vegetables. The cooked couscous pearls are served with assorted tomatoes, olives, celery, and parsley and tossed in Harrisa dressing with a dash of lemon juice.The dish simply bursts with exotic and delicious flavors.
Giant couscous used in this recipe can replaced with regular couscous. Harrisa paste can be made at home or alternatively a store bought one can be used as well.
Ingredients Needed for the Salad
- Couscous: Giant couscous are used in this salad recipe.
- Tomatoes: I have used a variety of cherry and assorted tomatoes.
- Celery: Celery add nice crunch and flavors in the salad. You can skip if you would like.
- Parsley: For refreshingly strong flavors.
- Olives: Green and black olives both can be used. I have used the green ones.
- Lemon Juice: To balance out everything.
- Harissa: Homemade or store bought harissa for dressing.
How to make Couscous Salad?
The salad is very easy to make and all you need to do is prepare the couscous and assemble the salad.
Step 1. Prepare the couscous: Cook washed and drained couscous in boiling water in a saucepan with a dash of salt and olive oil for about 5-7 minutes.
Step 2. Assemble the salad: In a mixing bowl, add the cooked couscous, tomatoes, olives, celery, and parsley. Drizzle in harissa, salt, pepper and lemon juice and mix well. Serve right away.
Serving Suggestions and Variations
Serve the salad with your favourite juice, smoothie, mango mojito, blueberry lemonade, dalgona coffee or as it is.
For variations you can add your favorite chopped vegetables like bell peppers, carrots, red onions, sautéed cauliflower and broccoli. To add some protein, boiled chickpeas, crispy tofu / paneer can be used.
Pro Tip
Harissa is a hot red chilli sauce made with vinegar, garlic, and lemon juice. It can be easily replaced with any other hot sauce like Tabasco or Sriracha .
Other Salad Recipes
- Falafel Pita Salad Bowl
- Spinach and Apple Salad
- American Style Potato Salad
- Corn Panzanella Salad
- Israeli Salad
- Detox Salad | Beet Barley Broccoli Salad
Looking for more such easy recipes to get some ideas for your snacking? Do not miss my Falafel Pita Salad Bowl and Soya Chaap Masala and the best one’s Bread Upma.
*If you ever try this recipe don’t forget to share your photos with me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or tag me on Instagram @cookingwithsapana using the hashtag #cookingwithsapana and stay connected* I would love to see your creations from my space!!
Giant Couscous Salad
Equipment
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup giant couscous
- 1 cup mixed cherry tomatoes sliced
- 1 stick of celery sliced
- 1/2 cup olives sliced
- 1/4 cup parsley leaves chopped
- 1/4 cup harissa paste
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- juice of one lemon
- 2 cups water or as required
Instructions
- In a saucepan bring water to boil. Add couscous with a dash of salt and olive oil. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until couscous is cooked.
- In a mixing bowl add harissa, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Mix well and set aside.
- Finally assemble the salad into a mixing bowl, add couscous, tomatoes, olives, celery, and parsley and mix well.
- Add the harissa dressing and toss well.
- Serve and enjoy.
Always let me know how these recipes turned out in the comments below and give a ★ rating. Do let me know, how you enjoyed your Couscous Salad and please share your tips and tricks with me.
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Best Regards,
Sapana Behl
I LOVE couscous!!! However, I dislike “Israeli” couscous! I like what these ingredients will taste like, however, can this be done with my kind of couscous? Here’s hoping!!!
wonerful!
This is the perfect summer side dish! I love using the jumbo couscous for extra texture. And the spice from the harissa dressing is genius!
This looks so beautiful and healthy! I love that you added olives into your couscous, can’t wait to try that!
You are totally given me a side dish recipe to prepare for my moms birthday, this looks really good and tasty!
This giant couscous salad looks so delicious and I love how pretty it is as well! Harissa is my faaave!
This salad looks delicious and it’s the perfect summer sidedish. I especially love the addition of the olives. My kids will love this recipe too!
To make a a meal that is delicious, healthy and balanced at the same time takes a lot of creativity and brilliance. And I think your salad is just that kind of a salad. Thanks for sharing!
What a beautiful salad, I think I could eat a bowl now! I love the sound of the harissa dressing and the olives, thanks for sharing.
I am all about a simple, delicious, salad recipe! This really looks like it will hit the spot!
This couscous salad is so refreshing! I love the flavor from the lemon and herbs, perfect on a hot summer day!
This couscous salad looks healthy and delicious Sapana. Somehow, I am yet to try this one, ghopefully will get it soon.
I don’t make enough salads with different types of grains so this is a perfect recipe for me!
Love all the flavors and textures in this giant couscous salad! This is a must-try this summer!
I love how this looks! I thought those were beans at first, but cool to see that these are giant couscous!
I love couscous and this salad is amazing. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
I love making giant couscous salad, its one of my favorite things to make for luch for my family! Yours looks so delicious and amazing. I need to try this out for luch today. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Yum! Couscous salad is so good! I love how refreshing and veggie-heavy this recipe is!
This is a little like a salad I make with quinoa, but I never thought about harissa as part of the dressing. This sounds so good I can’t wait to try it.