Spiced couscous salad with grilled portobello mushrooms

I'm still in my mushroom phase and have branched out from small button mushrooms to the larger portobello variety. Aren't they fun? One day we will have an outdoor barbecue and I'll grill them in style, but for now they are just as delicious cooked in an oven-based griller.

This simple meal pairs the grilled portobellos with an easy couscous salad. The combination worked very well, both in ease of making (the couscous cooks while the mushrooms grill) and in the resulting mix of flavours and textures.

I used paprika, onion and chilli powders to flavour the meal, along with a dash each of salt, pepper and sugar and some fresh mint leaves. The mint leaves were from our garden, which added to my enjoyment of them! I also added diced carrots and whole snow peas (mange tout) to the couscous. I loved the resulting mix but other vegetables would work well too if you have different things to hand.

To me, this meal tasted of summer. Wherever you are in the world, I hope you enjoy it too.

Spiced couscous salad with grilled portobello mushrooms

An easy, summer-appropriate salad that comes together in under 15 minutes

Serves 2, but increase ingredient quantities as needed

Vegan and low in fat

Author: Bite-sized thoughts

Print recipe

Ingredients

1 tsp dried paprika

1/2 tsp dried onion powder

1/4 tsp dried chilli powder

Decent pinch salt

Decent pinch sugar

Few cracks black pepper

1/2 cup dry couscous

3/4 cup boiling water

4 portobello mushrooms

1 medium carrot, diced

1/2 to 3/4 cup fresh snow peas / mange tout

Small bunch fresh mint leaves (a decent handful), roughly torn

Method

Heat your grill to high and combine the paprika, onion, chilli, salt, sugar and black pepper in a small bowl or container.

Add the coucous and boiling water to a large bowl along with 1 tsp of the spice mix. Whisk together and cover with a plate or tea towel. Allow to stand for 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, rub the remainder of the spice mix into the tops of your mushrooms and then place the mushrooms under your grill (top side up).

When the couscous has stood for 3 minutes, add the diced carrot, snow peas / mange tout and mint leaves to the bowl and stir through. Cover and allow to stand for a further 3 to 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms are sufficiently grilled.

Divide the couscous into two portions and serve each topped with two mushrooms.

Submitted to Healthy Vegan Fridays.

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