Persian Couscous Salad

Good for summer dinners - not too hot or heavy, perfect as an accompaniment to your favourite meat and a salad

2 cups of couscous
4 tsp of chicken stock
1 tsp sugar (or other natural sweetener like erythritol/stevia extract)
Grated rind of 1 lemon
4 cups of boiling water
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup pine-nuts
1 cup of dried fruit (currants, cranberries, diced prunes)
4 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped apricots
Chopped parsley, corriander

1. Mix couscous, stock powder, sugar, and grated lemon rind in a bowl.
2. Add 4 cups of boiling water.  Cover and leave to stand for 3 minutes.
3. Melt the butter in a pan and heat the dried fruit and nuts over a medium heat until the nuts brown lightly and the fruit swells a little.  
4. Fluff up the couscous with a fork and add the nuts and fruit and some chopped herbs.  Stir to mix, and serve with meat and a green salad.

Tips for cooking couscous here

*Couscous is a type of pasta!  If you are interested this link to Wikipedia is really interesting.