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Pumpkin and Cous Cous Salad

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By Riviera Rose


A pumpkin's not just for Halloween, you know
A pumpkin's not just for Halloween, you know

I had this for lunch today and it was delicious!  My adaptation of a recipe in Donna Hay's wonderful 'The New Cook' recipe book.  It's the sort of thing I love as it looks (and tastes) as if you've been slaving for ages, but is in fact incredibly easy.   An ideal thing to serve for a girls' lunch - I keep saying that with my recipes which is odd because I NEVER do the ladies' lunch thing, but deep down I suppose I must want to.  Alternatively, it could make a nice starter, but I enjoyed it simply as a tasty, indulgent, wintry Saturday lunch.  So, you will need:

A chunk of pumpkin

A cup of cous cous

Some green beans (I use frozen)

Some fresh mint

A small pot of natural yoghurt

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon honey

Some more fresh mint

Chop your pumpkin up into mouth-sized bites, about half a centimetre (quarter inch) thick and put in an oven-proof dish with a little olive oil and some salt.  Bake in the oven at 200 degrees centigrade (400 fahrenheit) for about thirty minutes, until golden and soft.  Remove and cool.  Pour a cup of boiling water on your cous cous (the same volume as the grain itself), stir and leave.  Blanch your green beans - I simply take my frozen ones, put them in a plastic container and microwave them for three minutes.  Allow everything to cool.  Next, make your dressing, mixing the cumin , honey and chopped mint into your yoghurt.  You could put this into a nice jug because you're going to serve it separately.  Finally, combine everything - the pumpkin, cous cous, beans and chopped mint leaves.  I happened to have some lambs' lettuce in the fridge, so added that, too.  

Suggestion: Next time I might substitue bulghur wheat for the cous cous, as I prefer its nuttier, chewier texture.  Quinoa would work, too.  You could put some stock into the cous cous / grain mix if you like, though I was happy to leave it out.   Enjoy!


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