Moroccan Vegan Skewers And Couscous
Vegetables and tofu skewers marinated in a Moroccan inspired sauce served with a sweet and savory couscous salad. The whole dish is vegan and quick to make, as long as you think about marinating the veggies and tofu a couple of hours prior eating.
I precooked the carrots before marinating them so they are not too hard. If you decide to use other vegetables such as zucchinis, eggplants, potatoes, yams…, I would recommend doing so too.
I used cumin, paprika and harissa to spice up the marinade. Harissa is a North African chili pepper paste, you can substitute it with pretty much any chili-based hot sauce.
The sweet and savory couscous salad is simple but full of flavors. A hint of turmeric, dried apricots, Kalamata olives and chickpeas. Don’t forget to keep the chickpea water to make vegan macarons for example.
I made mini skewers, they are 4 inch – 10 cm long, and fried them in a pan. That’s my best option if you don’t have a barbecue or a grill pan. You can also use the broil function of your oven but beware of the smoke that might come out of it!
After grilling, you can drizzle the skewers with lemon juice to add a refreshing touch and sprinkle smoked sea salt flakes!
Moroccan vegan skewers with a couscous salad
Ingredients
Skewers
Veggies
- ¼ red onion
- ½ block medium firm tofu
- ½ green pepper
- 1 carrot
Marinade
- 1 tbsp parsley
- 1 tbsp coriander
- 1 garlic clove
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tbsp harissa
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Couscous salad
- 1 cup couscous 185 g
- ¾ cup water 185 ml
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 pinch turmeric
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 12 dried apricots
- 20 Kalamata olives
- ¼ cup chickpeas
Instructions
Marinade
- Cut the carrots in about 1 inch pieces. Boil in water for 8 to 10 minutes. You want them to stay a bit firm.
- In the meantime, cut the pepper, red onion and tofu in about 1 inch pieces, place in a bowl.
- For the marinade, chop roughly the herbs and the garlic.Place all the ingredients in a blender cup and mix for a minute.
- Pour on the vegetables and tofu, stir and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Couscous salad
- In a pot, bring to a boil the water, salt and turmeric.
- Remove from the heat and pour in the couscous and the olive oil, stir quickly and cover with a lid. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Use a fork to fluff it up and break up the clumps.
- Cut the dried apricots in 6, the olives in halves and rinse the lentils. Mix with the couscous.
Grilling the kabobs
- Prepare the kabobs by alternating the vegetables and tofu on the skewers.
- For the cooking, the best way is to use a barbecue or a grill pan.If you don't have any of these, fry in a pan on medium heat for 5 minutes, turning the skewers often so that each sides are grilled.Or grill in the preheated oven at 400°F for 5 to 10 minutes, putting on broil once the kabobs are in. This is my least favorite option as it gets pretty smoky.
- Sprinkle with smoked sea salt flakes and drizzle with lemon juice.