What's Cooking Video Recipe
May 2002: Ginger Beer and Couscous Salad

Ginger Beer
I remember the container of ginger beer prepared by a West African woman whom I taught in an ESL program (English as a second language). We were celebrating the group's graduation; and in her culture, ginger beer was an appropriate, nonalcoholic way to commemorate a happy occasion.

I remember how intense the flavor was and how I couldn't stop drinking it on that very warm May afternoon. In my attempt to re-create the experience, I've cobbled together a technique that I think would make her proud. Below are approximate amounts.

For a half-gallon:

• 1 three-inch hunk of gingerroot, peeled and mashed. Can be pounded with a mortar and pestle or by pulsing in a food processor. You want the hunks to remain whole and not completely pulverized.
  
• boiling water
  
• 4 limes
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• seltzer water/club soda
  
• ice
  

  Instructions:
  

• Place your pounded gingerroot into a half-gallon pitcher, bucket or vessel of your choice. Add boiling water and sugar so it will dissolve. Let ginger infuse for at least 2 hours.

• Strain over cheesecloth or sieve into your serving pitcher and taste for ginger intensity. If it's not where you want it, bundle up your ginger in that cheesecloth and let it continue to infuse. When it's arrived at your desired strength, add the juice of the limes and stir. Sweet enough? Limey enough? Adjust accordingly.

• Pour over ice into your favorite glasses, topping it off with club soda for a touch of effervescence.

  Add-whatever-you-want couscous salad
  The beauty with this kind of salad is that it becomes your very own, individualized creation. The variations are endless.
  
  The required elements:

  • 1 box instant plain couscous
    
  • olive oil
    
  • coarse salt
    
  • juice from at least 1 lemon, maybe 2, or citrus fruit of your choice.
  Here's what I add to the couscous in the video. Remember, these are approximate amounts.
  
  • ½ diced red onion
  • ½ diced red bell pepper
  • ½ diced cucumber
  • 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • a handful of feta cheese, crumbled
  • a handful chopped fresh parsley
  • lots of torn leaves of fresh mint
  • a few inches green garlic, sliced thin
    
    Other ideas to help get you started: slivers of carrots, toasted pinenuts, torn spinach, chiffonade of basil, cherry tomatoes, chopped fresh cilantro, lime zest, olives
    

    Instructions:
    

  • Cook couscous according to directions, which takes five minutes. In the meantime, get all of your ingredients chopped, sliced, torn, organized - this is called your mise en place.

  • First add some olive oil to add a little slickness, plus the juice of one lemon. Add salt. Taste. Salty enough? Slick enough? If not, add more, but gradually.

  • When you are satisfied with the moisture and salt quotients, it's time to move on. Scoop the couscous into a serving bowl and start adding all of your goodies. Mix well with a wooden spoon. Have on hand a tasting spoon or more, for your intermittent taste test for the marriage of all your flavors. A salad like this should sing! Keep adding and seasoning according to taste. The end result can be served at room temperature or chilled. Will store well for a few days in the fridge. You may find that after being chilled, the salad will need a little spritz of citrus and/or salt to revive itself.

  • Yields at least 5 cups, enough for a medium-sized fiesta.
    © Copyright 2002 The Washington Post Company