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Celebration Couscous

So named because it looks a bit like confetti! This stunning couscous dish has lots of flavour and vibrancy with pine nuts, pistachios, cranberries, mint, parsley and orange zest providing pretty specks of colour.
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Course Lunch, Soups and Salad
Servings 5
Calories 380 kcal
Kid Friendly, Vegetarian

Ingredients
  

  • 600 g orange kumara/sweet potato cut into 1inch chunks (leave the skin on)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon runny honey or maple syrup
  • ½ cup dried couscous
  • ½ cup boiling water
  • 1 knob butter
  • 1 orange finely grated zest
  • ¾ cup shelled pistachios chopped
  • 70 g pine nuts toasted
  • ¾ cup dried cranberries or cherries chopped
  • 1 handful parsley finely chopped
  • 1 handful mint leaves torn

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 180degC/355 Fahrenheit.
  • Lay kumara (sweet potato) chunks on an oven tray (lined with baking paper) and toss with olive oil and honey/maple syrup, and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes until kumara is slightly caramelised.
  • Boil water in a small pot, add couscous, butter and a pinch of salt. Turn off heat, stir together, cover and leave to stand for 5-10 minutes.
  • Fluff up couscous with a fork, and toss with the orange zest, nuts, cranberries or cherries, parsley, mint and roast kumara.

Notes

It’s actually barely a couscous dish as only half a cup is used to coat everything, while the main starch comes from the orange kumara. Serve as part of a large spread of salads accompanying roast or barbecued meat, or even at Christmas time as a starchy option. To make the dish gluten-free, you could use quinoa or even cauliflower rice as your grain.