Warm Couscous and Halloumi Salad

~by Kendal

It's Saturday and I have a cinema date with my wife (Emi) later. So I thought I would make something easy, quick and yet very tasty for dinner.

It has been *hot* today. And on hot days I am always looking for tasty salads. I came across this cous cous salad recently at my friend Camilla's house and fell in love with it. Couscous? Halloumi? Nuts? What more could I ask for?

So here it is! Warm Couscous and Halloumi Salad - perfect for these late summer days.

Ingredients

250g Couscous
1 pack of Halloumi
2 Peppers
Large handful of Brazil Nuts
2 cloves of Garlic
Boullion Stock  -approx 1 pint

Olive Oil
Soy Sauce
Lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

How to

1. First of all, make your couscous. A chef once gave me a good tip on how to make couscous taste very 'golden' - melt a little butter in a pan and coat the couscous in that before adding your water or stock. I always use Boullion just to give the cous cous a little more taste. Once the butter has coated all the couscous, add your stock and let simmer for a minute or two and then let the couscous rest, giving it a good stir.

2. Chop up your peppers into small bits. I used roughly 2, although Ava kept stealing sizable chunks as  I was cutting, and running off to the garden, so I can't be too sure.

3. Chop up your Brazil nuts roughly into slices. You can use any kind of nuts and seeds work really well too, but I happen to love Brazil nuts. Chop up your garlic into small peices (it works better to chop rather than crush the garlic in this salad)

4. Put everything - couscous, peppers, garlic, nuts, into a bowl and give it a good mix. Add a good dash of olive oil and soy sauce (I like to use about half a bottle...I love soy sauce!), and squeeze half a lemon in too. A small sprinkle of salt and a good dash of pepper and then give it a very good stir.

5. Chop your Halloumi up into thin slices and add to a pot or pan. Dry fry it (the juices from the Halloumi mean you don't require any oil) and keep stirring so it doesn't stick to the bottom. The Halloumi will start to break up and eventually will start to resemble scrambled eggs. Once all the 'bits' look brown and suitably 'fried', it's ready to go, so you can add to your cous cous. And you're done!

I love this easy dish because you can basically add whatever you want to add. We like to eat ours warm but it's lovely cold too. It works well with different chopped up veg, with roasted tomatoes, and with almost any variety of seed or nut. It's healthy, it's fast, and it makes a lovely accompaniment to almost anything (we had ours with organic sirloin steak...very yum!)

And, it tastes good the next day, freshened up with a little more olive oil and soy sauce. Or if you can't wait, it also makes a good late night, post-cinema-date snack :)