Sweet Potato Couscous Salad with Chickpeas
A warm grain salad where pale golden speckled fine couscous is the body, studded with roasted sweet potato cubes and whole roasted chickpeas and dressed in a translucent amber lemon, orange and harissa vinaigrette.
Servings 6 servings
Ingredients
For the Roast
- 1 ¼ pounds sweet potatoes peeled and cut in ½ inch cubes
- 15 ounces canned chickpeas one can, drained, rinsed and patted dry
- 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 for the potato, 1 for the chickpeas
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric mostly for the golden colour
For the Couscous
- 1 cup fine instant couscous not pearl couscous
- 1 ¼ cups vegetable stock boiling
For the Citrus Harissa Dressing
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lemon juiced
- ½ orange juiced
- 1 teaspoon harissa paste
- 1 clove garlic finely minced
- 1 teaspoon honey
To Finish
- ¾ cup flat leaf parsley chopped
- ¼ cup fresh mint chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Roast
- Toss the ½ inch sweet potato cubes with 2 tablespoons olive oil, the cumin, smoked paprika, coriander, turmeric, salt and pepper. Spread them on a sheet pan with space between them and roast at 425F for 20 minutes.
- Toss the dried chickpeas with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, add them to the pan, shake once and roast 15 minutes more, until the potato edges caramelise and the chickpeas firm and blister. Drying the chickpeas first is what stops them steaming and breaking apart.
Steep the Couscous and Make the Dressing
- Put the fine couscous in a large bowl and pour over the boiling stock. Cover tightly and leave 10 minutes off the heat. Use 1 ¼ cups of liquid per cup of couscous and do not return it to the burner.
- Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, harissa, minced garlic and honey with a pinch of salt. It should stay translucent amber with tiny red flecks suspended in it, never opaque.
Fork and Fold
- Separate the warm couscous with a fork in short lifting strokes, never a spoon, then pour over two thirds of the dressing and fork again. Dressing the grains warm keeps them separate as they cool.
- Add the roasted sweet potato and the whole chickpeas and fold gently from underneath, two or three turns only, so the chickpeas stay whole.
- Fold through the chopped parsley and mint, add the remaining dressing and taste for salt. Serve warm or at room temperature, within about an hour.
Notes
- Fine couscous, not pearl: fine grains swell into a pale golden speckled body that the vegetables sit inside. Pearl couscous rolls separately and stays white in the middle.
- No clumps: 1 ¼ cups hot stock per cup of couscous, 10 minutes covered off the heat, forked not stirred, dressed while warm.
- Keep chickpeas whole: dry them before roasting, roast only 15 minutes, and fold rather than stir.
- Translucent dressing: a citrus vinaigrette lets the grain colour show through. An opaque miso or creamy dressing turns the whole bowl flat tan.
- Serve warm: within an hour. Fridge cold thickens the oil and mutes the cumin and paprika.
- Make ahead: roast and dress up to 2 days ahead stored separately, steep the couscous fresh. Do not freeze.