Couscous with Beans, Corn, and Jalapeno

Couscous is a very popular food in North Africa and Middle East that getting more and more known in Europe and North America. It is healthy and very easy to prepare. There are so many recipes you can create with Couscous just by adding different vegetables, seafood or meat. It can be a tasty fulfilling vegetarian dish or a side dish for meat or fish. This particular salad can be prepared in advance and enjoyed for a couple of days. I particularly love this salad because of all the goodness – beans add protein, corn full of antioxidant, red onions are packed with quercetin that has antioxidant, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties, parsley is famous for vitamins K, C, and A, and please don’t forget the amazing powers of garlic. All in all a great, delicious and versatile dish!

Ingredients

1 cup couscous, not cooked
2 clove garlic, squeezed
1 can beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup canned whole kernel corn, drained
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1-2 Jalapeño, finely chopped (optional)
3 tbsp.olive oil
Fresh juice from Half a lemon
Salt, pepper, to taste

Directions

Cook the couscous according to package instructions, adding salt and pepper.

In the meantime, in a bowl combine the rest of the ingredients and mix. You can use any kind of bean: red, black, chickpea, but I prefer using bean blend containing all of them to make the dish healthier and more colorful.  

When the couscous ready fluff it with the fork.

Stir the vegetables with oil and lemon juice into the couscous. Serve warm with meat or fish.