We keep our promise of bringing you an easy lunch box recipe every week this entire month, hot and fresh from Amrita Kaur’s kitchen, she of ‘Life ki Recipe’ fame. Here is the second from a series of healthy and easy lunch box solutions, one recipe at a time. This weekend, she tells us how we can pack ourselves a healthy salad and carry it to work without having it become soggy. Recipe for The Hearty Couscous Salad in a jar:

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For two salad jars, you need

½ cup couscous
¼ cup cooked chickpeas
¼ cup chopped bell peppers
Half an onion, sliced
Handful of cherry tomatoes
Handful of dried cranberries
Handful of pumpkin seeds
Few apple slices
2 tbsp feta cheese
Handful of fresh greens (romaine/arugula/lollo rosso)

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For the dressing

Whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 garlic cloves (grated), 2 tsp honey, salt and pepper to taste.

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For the couscous, you need to

Cook the couscous by adding same amount of hot water in it. Cover for 5–10 minutes and fluff it up with a fork.

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To assemble the salad, you need to

Pour the dressing into the jar. The dressing goes in first and lies on the bottom of the jar so that the other ingredients can coat themselves in it. Then go in the crunchy veggies —in this case the bell peppers and onions—and then the softer veggies like the cherry tomatoes.

The next few layers are that of the chickpeas, followed by the apples, cranberries and pumpkin seeds. The soaked couscous goes into the jar as the next layer, and then go in the greens and finally the cheese.

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Expert’s tip by Amrita

Pack the said layers into the jar in the given chronology and carry it to work. In the lunch hour, invert the entire jar in a bowl, empty its contents and toss to mix the dressing well. This way, all the ingredients have sat in the dressing long enough and the taste has soaked in well. Next step? Relish the salad, of course!