February 6, 2011: Spicy Moroccan carrot salad

We had a summer Sunday bbq to attend and had been tasked (along with a few other guests) with contributing a salad. One of the attendees had called first dibs on our favourite quinoa salad recipe so we delved straight into Plenty for new ideas.

Ottolenghi is a master of delicious and interesting looking salads so we had options galore - in the end we went with the second recipe in the book - spicy Moroccan carrot salad. This was a pretty simple to make, just a quick cooking of the carrots and onions and then a whole lot of stirring. The pay-off is a stunningly flavoured salad - the raw garlic and spices really power things up. To be honest, it would probably be a bit much as your only side salad, but combined with all the wonderful dishes everyone brought along, it was a taste sensation. Ottolenghi wins again!


Spicy Moroccan carrot salad 
(courtesy of Ottolenghi's Plenty)

1kg carrots
80ml olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon castor sugar
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 medium green chillies, finely chopped
1 green onion, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1-2 tablespoons chopped preserved lemon
1 bunch of coriander
120ml yoghurt

Peel the carrots and cut them into half moons, about 1 cm thick. Simmer in salted water in a large saucepan for about 10 minutes, until they've soften a bit but still retain a decent crunch. Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion for 10-12 minutes, until soft and starting to brown. Add the drained carrots, followed by all the remaining ingredients except for the coriander and yoghurt. Stir well, fry for a minute or so, kill the heat and season with salt and pepper.

Just before serving, stir through the coriander. The recipe suggests serving the salad in individual bowls with a dab of yoghurt on top (as pictured), but we took the salad to the picnic with the yoghurt stirred through it, which worked just as well.