Wonderful Couscous salad

Couscous(pronounced "koos-koos")is a staple of North African cooking, is now widely available in packaged form in most supermarkets. Couscous is yellow granules of semolina made from durum wheat, the ideal pasta wheat, which is precooked and then dried.
Like pasta or rice, it can serve many culinary purposes.It is simple to prepare usually you just add boiling water and let it sit.You can add exotic spices or leave it plain.It can be a salad base, a filling addition to soups, an accompaniment for meats and vegetables, and if sweetened naturally, spiced and mixed with dried fruits, a dessert.
This cold salad is refreshing, bursting with natural flavors and speckled with sweet ingredients that have real kid appeal.
Now, its always preferable to purchase organic vegetables when available..it just makes this salad that much more nutritious.

Ingredients
1 small sweet potato
2 cups organic chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup couscous, uncooked
1 large carrot
1 medium tomato
1 small red bell pepper
1 small zucchini
1/2 seedless english cucumber
3/4 cup organic garbanzo beans(chickpeas), drained and rinsed
1/2 cup raisins
10-15 fresh mint leaves
2 tbsp. olive oil, or to taste
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
sea salt and pepper to taste

Method
1.Cook the sweet potato and allow to cool.(This step may be done in advance).
2.In a medium saucepan, boil broth, add couscous, stir and cover. Turn off heat and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Fluff with fork and transfer to large mixing bowl.
3.peel and dice or shred carrot and place in a bowl with couscous.
4.Peel and dice cooked sweet potato and add to bowl.
5.Wash tomato, bell pepper, zucchini and cucumber.
6.Cut vegetables into smaller pieces, such as slices and add them to the bowl.
7.Measure and add garbanzo beans and raisins to bowl. Stir to combine.
8.Use fingers to tear mint leaves into small pieces and add to bowl.
9.In a small bowl, combine oil,lemon juice, and spices. Add to couscous and mix well.
Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 6

This is a very refreshing and light tasting salad...very good!!

Enjoy!!

Sylvie Thibert