Cous cous tabbouleh with feta and pomegranate seeds

I was in search of flavour.  I had a pomegranate and some feta in the fridge needing to be placed. I had recently been chatting to my delightful Lebanese foodie friend about tabbouleh, so this has been at the back of my mind.

I’m loving mint at the moment, so off I went in search of bulgar wheat but after 2 shops none was found. I was not in the mood to go to more. I get so tired of hunting down a very simple yet elusive ingredient.  It’s easier to just compromise.

So I decided to use whole-wheat couscous instead and knock up a tabbouleh-inspired salad incorporating the feta and pomegranate seeds. I used a slightly higher ratio of carb, so if you are wanting it more authentic, prepare 1/2 a cup instead of a cup and/or use bulgar wheat (missing in action today in the Green Point vicinity), and omit the feta and pomegranate.

What I used:

• 1 cup whole-wheat couscous, soaked in 1 cup (and a bit) of hot water (until absorbed and then fluffed up)
• 1 English cucumber, split in half lengthways and then cut into cubes
• a large handful off mint (1 x Woolies punnet) chopped
• 2 large handfuls of flat-leaf parsley (1 1/2 WW punnets) – chopped
• 2 large tomatoes chopped
• 80gms of red salad onions (1 x WW packet) – finely sliced
• the juice of one lemon
• about 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
• seeds from about half a pomegranate
• 2 discs of feta (about 80gms)

Soak the couscous for about 10 minutes, while chopping everything up then mix everything together.

We ate this with crumbed chicken fillets with tzatziki dolloped on top.

It’s packed with flavour, zesty, salty, and delivers a bit of crunchy sweetness from the seeds.

The best part is I get to snack on this over the next few days.