Couscous pilaf recipe

This simple dish is perfect for picnics or lunchboxes, and is packed full of nuts, seeds and fruit. Each portion is one of your five a day as well as being tasty, and it looks lovely and colourful in a big bowl on the table for everyone to help themselves. It can be tweaked to your tastes by varying the dried fruit and nuts used or changing the dressing. Serve with a crisp salad for lunch or spicy fish cakes for dinner. This recipe is healthy and only takes 15 mins to cook – perfect if you’re in a hurry.

Ingredients

• 600g couscous
• Stock cube
• 2 limes
• 75g dried apricots
• 50g raisins
• 50g dates
• 50g almonds
• 25g sunflower seeds
• 15ml good olive oil

Method

1. Put the couscous in a large clear bowl with the crumble stock cube and the juice and zest of one lime.
2. Pour over enough hot water to just cover the couscous and immediately cover with a plat to keep the steam in. There should be about 2mm of water above the top of the couscous.
3. After 5mins, remove the plate and fluff up the couscous with a fork.
4. Stir in chopped dried apricots, raisins, almonds, chopped dates and sunflower seeds.
5. Whisk together the olive oil and the juice of the other lime, and dress the couscous with it.
6. Serve with a Greek salad and crusty bread, or alongside Moroccan-spiced meats.