Here’s a delicious vegetable side dish for you to try out real soon. Take a good look at my very next Moroccan couscous salad! It contains lovely ingredients such as crunchy pan fried zucchini, lemon juice, ground cinnamon and freshly chopped parsley…
Can you imagine all those flavors together?
No need to say then that this couscous salad is a great side dish for juicy grilled pork chops, chicken, lamb kofta skewers or even a rack of oven roast lamb!
How did you come up with this Moroccan couscous salad recipe, you might be asking yourself.
Marrakech
The inspiration for this lovely Moroccan side dish comes from a trip that we made to Marrakech a couple of years ago. We ordered a table full of the most amazing and freshly prepared mezze dishes one hot evening on a rooftop restaurant terrace overlooking the old city.
Gosh, what a lovely evening that was.
I had the impression that the mezze platter contain just a little bit of everything that this restaurant served as a main dish. We also got for instance chicken and olives. Heavenly. And also another specialty from Morocco: a crunchy crisp chicken stuffed pastilla with phyllo dough.
Just the thought of those dishes makes me salivate!
Easy Moroccan Couscous Salad with Zucchini
And here’s the thing.
One of those mezze that evening was a little bowl of cooked but still crunchy zucchini seasoned with cumin, fresh parsley and lemon juice.
And it was absolutely mind blowing!
I put it on my bucket list to make again at home later on when we got back. I just added cooked couscous to it to make it a full side dish for pork chops, chicken or lamb!
Do you love couscous salads?
Then also check out my Turkish kisir tomato couscous salad!
Enjoy!
Easy Moroccan Couscous Salad with Zucchini Recipe
Moroccan Couscous Salad with crunchy zucchini, lemon juice, cinnamon and fresh parsley... A great side dish for pork chops, chicken or lamb!
- 5,5 oz dry couscous (155 g)
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock (240 ml)
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 10,5 oz fresh zucchini (350 g)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- olive oil
- pepper
- salt
Pour the couscous in a bowl or ceramic dish and add the hot stock.
Stir using a fork and then cover the dish with a lid or plate. Let the couscous absorb the hot stock for about 10 minutes until tender.
In the meantime slice the zucchini in half lengthwise and remove the softer inner flesh using a teaspoon.
Dice the zucchini finely. In a pan pour a little olive oil and add the chopped garlic. Stir fry over medium-low heat for 2 minutes until fragrant. Then add the diced zucchini, cumin powder and cinnamon. Season with a little pepper and salt. Stir well and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the zucchini starts to soften but keep it crunchy.
Then take the zucchini off the heat and transfer it to a clean plate. Put it aside to cool. Stir the cooked couscous, break up any lumps. Let it cool and then add it to a large mixing bowl together with the cooked zucchini, lemon juice and chopped parsley. Season with a pinch of pepper and salt.
Stir the couscous salad and check the seasoning one last time. Add extra pepper, salt, cumin powder or lemon juice to taste. Serve the salad lukewarm or cold.
