One of those days when you’re really unwell and can barely get out of bed. Where you called in sick at work and are still working from your laptop in your bed. One where you need a hot water kettle at the bed side table rather than all the way (10 steps away) in the kitchen. That’s the day this salad came to my rescue.
With no energy and weakness in my bones, I reluctantly decided to make something to eat, something that would raise my spirits and not my waist line, increase my energy and not my nauseating sensation and, most importantly, something that would fill me up well enough to not enter the kitchen for a while longer.
This mighty power packed salad woke up my senses and kicked the fatigue out of my body. It made me wake up and actually feel 80% back to normal. My get well salad is a burst full of flavour, texture, and also has a beautiful aroma. Make this for guests at lunch or for a movie night in.
There are variations with this salad; instead of couscous, you could use quinoa, barley. or even buckwheat. The eggs don’t need to be boiled; they could be poached. A bit of fresh fruit like pineapple or even figs would be great instead of the dates and apricots. Use a mix of nuts that you usually have at home. Or, better yet, if you’re feeling indulgent, some homemade croutons and good old Parmesan shavings would blow this salad out of the park. This would feed 4 people comfortably.
Give it a try and get creative!
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup couscous
- 1 bunch of spinach
- 1 small onion, finely sliced
- 1 medium tomato, finely sliced
- 1 medium cucumber, finely sliced
- 5 tbsp coriander, roughly chopped
- A handful of pomegranate seeds
- Medjool Dates, pitted and chopped
- 1/4 cup walnuts, cashews, almonds, roughly chopped
- 1 lime
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 1 tsp All Spice
- Salt
- 1 tsp pepper
For the Dressing
- 1 tsp mustard
- 3 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
- 5 tbsp virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 tsp Honey
- 1 tsp Hot sauce
Method:
- To make the dressing, put all the ingredients into a small lidded bottle, seal tight and shake it. Once emulsified, set aside.
- Place eggs in a sauce pan of boiling water. For medium size eggs, boil for 9-11 mins. Once done, run under cool water and peel the shell. Halve the eggs, season them with salt and pepper and set aside.
- In a bowl, mix the couscous and all the dry spice powders together with a fork. Pour over boiling water, just a little more than the couscous. Cover with a cling film and set aside for 3 mins. After 3 mins, take out the cling film and using a fork fluff up the prepared couscous.
- In the same water the eggs were boiled, blanch the spinach for a min and immediately immerse in ice cold water. Once cooled down, strain excess water, chop roughly and set aside.
- In a large bowl mix the tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, dates, coriander, most of the nuts and lime. Using your hands mix all the ingredients well.
- Add the cooked couscous and blanched spinach and mix well. Place the halved eggs over the top in a circle around the salad.
- Garnish with pomegranate seeds and nuts.
- Drizzle over with the salad dressing. Done and dusted. Enjoy with a cup of Chrysanthemum tea.
