Couscous salad with fresh herbs and a cardamom dressing.
This lucky girl is going on two amazing trips in the next three weeks. Today I will take a train from Beijing to Henan province to spend the week with a close Chinese friend, his friend and his Chinese family, which means I’ll be celebrating Chinese New Year with Chinese people in China, how cool is that. I’m not sure what to expect, but I think I can be sure it will involve a lot of eating (not complaining at all) and also some major awkwardness when I’m trying to have conversations in my crappy Chinese. After I return to Beijing I will spend one night here before flying home. Home! Unfortunately it’s not just fun and games, since my granddad had a nasty fall and ended up in the hospital. He’s doing ok, but I really want to spend some time with him (and bake some cakes for him) and that’s why I decided to make a short visit home before the second semester starts. I can’t deny that I’m also really really really looking forward to seeing my best friends and my family again and I will, of course, spend some time in the kitchen. And to make everything even better, I will have my two loyal travel companions with me on both trips.
This couscous salad is the last dish I’ve made before coming to Beijing at the end of August last year. Of course it’s not a Dutch salad and it’s also not the first dish that would pop up in my mind when I’m craving a soothing winter dish, but when that moment comes when you’re starting to doubt if the weather will ever get better again and you need to be reminded what summer feels like, this salad full of fragrant herbs, crunchy nuts and a pungent dressing Is the perfect thing to make.
