Rainbow Couscous Salad — a plant-based Mediterranean recipe by BOSH!
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Rainbow Couscous Salad

This is one of those salads we genuinely get excited about making. It's bright, it's fresh, and it comes together in about 15 minutes which still blows our minds every time. The smoky paprika couscous is the hero here, soaking up all those Mediterranean flavours before you pile on the grapes, olives and sun dried tomatoes for this brilliant hit of sweet, salty and tangy all at once. It looks stunning on the table too, which never hurts. Honestly, if you're not already making this on repeat, tonight's the night.

Cook: 15 min
Serves 4

Before You Start

  • Large bowl
  • Fork
  • Tea towel

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 300g couscous
  • 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 100g smoked almonds
  • 100g raisins
  • 60g grapes
  • 60g sun-dried tomatoes
  • 60g olives
  • 100g sweetcorn
  • 40g basil
  • 1 pack of vacuum beetroot
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 pomegranate
  • ½ cucumber
  • 1 avocado
  • chilli flakes
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • rocket

Method

1

Make the couscous

  • Tip 300g of of couscous into a large bowl along with the smoked paprika and oregano
  • Pour boiling water over the couscous until its fully submerged and the couscous is sitting roughly 1cm below the level of the water
  • Cover with a tea towel for 2-3 minutes until all of the water is absorbed and then, using a fork, fluff up the couscous until there are no clumps
2

Make the salad

  • Chop your grapes, olives and sun dried tomatoes in half
  • Chop the cucumber, red pepper, beetroot and avocado into small chunks
  • Roughly chop the basil and cut the pomegranate in half, bashing out the seeds with a wooden spoon
  • Throw all your chopped veg into the couscous along with the smoked almonds and raisins
  • Squeeze the juice of a lemon and pour in the pomegranate molasses and olive oil
  • Mix everything together and season with salt and pepper

Tips & Variations

  • Nail the couscous texture: Make sure the boiling water just covers the couscous by about 1cm, not loads more. Too much water and it goes soggy. Too little and you get crunchy bits. That 1cm rule is the one.
  • Bulk it up: We love throwing in a tin of drained chickpeas or some roasted veg to make this even more filling. It turns it from a side into a proper main event without any extra faff.
  • Make it your own: The grapes might sound a bit unusual but trust us on this one, they add this amazing pop of sweetness that works so well against the salty olives. That said, swap them for pomegranate seeds if you want something a bit more tart.

Why This Works

The trick is in how you season the couscous before the water even goes in. Adding the smoked paprika and oregano dry means every single grain gets coated in flavour from the start, rather than it all just sitting on top. That, plus letting it properly steam under a tea towel rather than just leaving it to sit, gives you fluffy, separate grains that actually taste of something.