Warm & cool beetroot, tuna with couscous salad meal recipe.

Yeap, another recipe for salad. Can’t you tell that we’re desperately trying to eat more healthily? All those late night suppers and crisps and salted chunky chocolate chip cookies have truly shown on our mid sections -_-

Just last night at 3am, I cracked 6 eggs, grated half a block of mature cheddar to make the most decadent cheesy scrambled eggs on marmite toasts.

Yeap. Trust me, we need these damn salads.

# – Beetroot, tuna & couscous salad meal.

The redeeming point is that this salad taste pretty damn good. And, quite gorgeous to look at I must say :D

For the salad:

• 1 can of solid tuna in brine, drained
• 1 beetroot, sliced
• 3 tablespoons of malt vinegar
• 60 grams of couscous
• 2 potatoes, cut into cubes
• 2 carrots, cut into thick strips
• 2 cucumbers, cut into cubes
• 3 eggs, hard boiled
• Water
• 3 tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil
• A dash of salt

For the dressing:

• 100 ml of extra virgin olive oil
• 50 ml of balsamic vinegar
• A dash of salt and pepper

# – First of all, hard boil the eggs. What I normally do is submerge the eggs in water, then bring to a boil for 4 minutes. Turn off flame and allow to rest while I do other tasks.

# – While the eggs are cooling down, pan fry the tuna till crisp on the edges with just a touch of oil. Set aside.

# – In the same pan, pour enough water to cover the amount of beetroot slices, then add the 3 tablespoons of malt vinegar. Give it a dash of salt too.

# – Throw in the beetroots, cover and let them simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Cook longer if you want the beetroots to be softer.

# – Take the beetroot slices out and you’re now left with a deep purplish red liquid. Pour it away if there’s too much, leaving an amount enough to cook the couscous in. Cook the couscous in the liquid. This is my favourite part of the dish, making these deep purple red caviars :)

# – Now, it’s time to assemble the chilled part of the salad. Throw in the couscous, tuna, cucumbers, beetroots and eggs into 2 plates and stick in the fridge for at least an hour. Since we’re eating the salad as our main meal, the portion is quite large. However, if you’re making it as an appetiser to accompany other dishes, I reckon this recipe could be divided into at least 6 decent portions.

# – In the meantime, chuck the carrots and potatoes into a roasting tin. Drizzle with olive oil and a dash of salt. Shake the tin to coat the vegetables well. You can totally throw in some peeled whole garlic cloves too (yummy!).

# – Stick the tin of vegetables into a preheated oven of 190 degrees celcius for 45 minutes – 1 hour.

# – Make the dressing but whisking the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper together.

# – After the vegetables have done roasting, take the now chilled salads and throw in the beautifully roasted carrots and potatoes.

# – Drizzle the balsamic vinaigrette dressing all over the salad. Serve immediately.

# – Warm & cool beetroot, tuna with couscous salad meal, DONE!

I’ve actually made this a couple of times. This is surprisingly delicious for a salad (I am a carnivour), with a variety of textures in every bite.

The sweetness of the roasted carrots & potatoes went really well with the slightly tart beetroots and the purple couscous. The eggs and tuna provided the essential delicious proteins while the fresh cucumbers kept it all crisp and refreshing.

We’re toying with the idea of eating salad meals like this for a lengthy period of time and to be honest, I really wouldn’t mind as long as they taste like this every time.

All that’s left to do now is to conjure up more salad recipes that could replicate the fun & exciting eating experience of this salad!