Chickpea & couscous salad

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A simple, versatile and affordable salad that can be whipped up in no time for an easy lunch or dinner. Swap out the tuna for your choice of lean protein, add some chopped up avocado for more healthy fats or sprinkle over some feta for a calcium boost.

Ingredients

  • 200g couscous
  • 200ml reduced salt vegetable stock, hot
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
  • Pinch of freshly cracked black pepper
  • 1x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 Lebanese cucumber, diced
  • 1/2 red onion, finely sliced
  • 1 yellow capsicum, seeds removed, diced
  • 2 tomatoes, seeds removed, diced
  • 95g tinned tuna in springwater
  • ¼ cup chopped mint leaves
  • 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Method

  1. Place the couscous in a large bowl. Pour over the hot vegetable stock and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes.  
  2. Fluff couscous with a fork and season with pepper. When couscous is completely cold, stir in the chickpeas, cucumber, onion, capsicum, tomato, tuna, black pepper, mint and parsley. 
  3. In a separate small bowl, combine the remaining olive oil, the lemon juice and, add to the couscous and stir until well combined.  

Notes

  • Olive oil, avocado and canola oils are great sources of monounsaturated fat (good fats).
  • Monounsaturated fats have been shown to lower blood cholesterol levels and decrease the risk of heart disease.  
  • Stir through shredded BBQ chicken instead of tuna as an alternative protein source.