Couscous salad with tomato, pepper, cucumber and parsley

Ingredients for 5 servings:

• 2 cups couscous
• 3 cup(s) water, boiling
• ½ cucumber(s)
• 1 bell pepper(s), red
• 1 large tomato(s)
• 1 bunch lemon balm
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 5 tbsp sunflower oil
• 3 tbsp, heaped tomato paste
• ½ lemon(s), juice
• 2 cloves garlic
• some salt and pepper
• e.g. paprika powder

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour 10 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 40 minutes

vegetarian and easily customizable

Place the couscous in a bowl and pour boiling water over it according to the package instructions, stir, and let it swell for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, clean and chop the vegetables, and wash and finely chop the herbs. Then add these ingredients to the finished couscous. If you don’t have lemon balm, you can simply increase the amount of lemon juice. In a small bowl or cup, combine the oils, tomato paste, desired spices (feel free to overseason them, as the couscous will absorb a lot of the flavor), the crushed garlic, and the lemon juice. Stir the mixture thoroughly until the sauce is evenly distributed and the couscous takes on the red color of the tomato paste. The finished salad should now be refrigerated and let stand for at least an hour. Tip: The couscous tastes even better if you leave it in the refrigerator overnight or for a whole day. This makes it perfect to prepare the night before and then serve with grilled food, Mediterranean dishes, or, for example, with some quark. With a little more sauce, it’s also great for giving peppers a vegetarian filling, but can of course also be expanded to include meat.