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This is one flavourful meal salad made of couscous as main ingredient, with a taste of mango and different spices that are part of dressing and sprinkled over the salad.
It’s a layered slalad made of fresh seasonal vegetables, couscous, crunchy walnuts and tasty dressing, drizzled with a bit of toasted sesame oil on top. It is slightly spicy due to chilli flakes. The sweet-and-sour dressing is made of mango in the first place and it is flavoured with maple syrup, garlic and vegan yoghurt.
The preparation time for this salad is short. It requires briefly boiling of couscous, letting it to sit for 5 min to absorb whole amount of liquid. Salad can be pre-made as well as the dressing and can stay in the refrigerator for up to 18 hours without pouring the dressing over and stirring all together. Once the dressing is added it gets absorbed mostly by lower layers of the salad and it partially sits on central upper layer part.
It should be drizzled with a bit of toasted sesame oil right before serving time and stirred well too.
Even though this salad is a meal for itself, it can be served as a side dish along with freshly made falafel, breaded champignons, fried vegetables or vegan homemade fritters and meatballs.
COUSCOUS MANGO SALAD
Refreshing meal salad made of couscous, with a taste of mango and different seasonings
Equipment
- High-speed blender
- Non-stick pot
Ingredients
- 95 gr of young spinach leaves;
- 143 gr of fresh cucumbers, chopped into small cubes;
- 80 gr of fresh red bell pepper, finely chopped into small cubes;
- a bit of toasted sesame oil to drizzle on top of salad;
- 34 gr of chopped, briefly toasted walnuts;
- pinch of chilli flakes;
- some ground coriander on top of knife.
For the cuscus:
- 1 dcl of couscous;
- 1 dcl of water;
- 1/2 tsp. of salt;
- 1 tbsp. of toasted sesame oil.
For the dressing:
- 55 gr of frozen mango;
- 30 ml of water;
- 1 tbsp. of maple syrup;
- 2/3 tsp. of salt;
- 4 tbsp. of lemon juice;
- 1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped;
- 4 tbsp. of good quality vegan yoghurt.
Instructions
- Put the couscous into a non-stick pot together with water and salt and let it cook until boiling point. 2. Cover pot with a lid and turn off the stove. Let couscous absorb water for the next 5 min. 3. Remove the lid, put 1 tsp. of olive oil into a pot and stir gently with a fork. Couscous should become crumbly after stirring. Set aside, let it cool down for 15 min in a cold place. Meanwhile mix all dressing ingredients in a high-speed blender and put in the refrigerator.4. Take a mid-size salad bowl or a large deep plate and put young spinach leaves on the bottom. 5. Take chopped toasted walnuts and put them all around on spinach, season them with ground coriander and chilli flakes.6. Put 1/2 of the amount of cucumbers straight in the center (and far from egdes of bowl), place them in a round shape by making small circle. 7. Next, put cooked couscous around cucumber pieces (as in images).8. Place red chopped paprika at the outside edges of couscous (as in images).9. Place the rest of chopped cucumbers at the inner edges of couscous. They should be at the same level as red chopped paprika. They should make a short "wall" (as in images) that will prevent dressing from spreading over the surface of salad.10. Next, slowly pour the whole amount of dressing straight in the centre.11. Drizzle salad with a bit of toasted sesame oil and stir well just before serving.12. Serve it as a meal, or on the other hand as a side dish next to freshly homemade falafel, breaded champignons, fried vegetables or vegan homemade fritters and meatballs.
