Recipe: Moroccan Roasted Carrot & Quinoa Salad

posted on: Sep 27, 2020

SOURCE: STUFF.CO

BY: CHELSEA WINTER

MOROCCAN ROASTED CARROT & QUINOA SALAD (GLUTEN-FREE)

Prep: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 10 minutes

1.5kg carrots, peeled

1 whole bulb garlic

2 tsp whole cumin seeds

Pinch chilli flakes

¹⁄³ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup honey, warmed if necessary to thin (or use ¹⁄³ cup maple syrup)

1½ cups quinoa

3 cups vegetable stock

2 tsp ground turmeric

2 segments preserved lemon (or zest of 1 lemon) zest and juice of 1 orange

½ cup raisins, sultanas or chopped dried apricots

¾ cup sliced or chopped almonds (or pine nuts, or a mixture)

1 tsp very finely grated ginger juice of ½ lemon

¾ cup chopped fresh coriander

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 160C regular bake.

Cut the carrots lengthways into thin sticks, at most 1.5cm thick at the fattest end. Place on a large baking tray (or two smaller ones) along with the garlic bulb, and scatter with the cumin seeds and chilli flakes. Season generously with salt and pepper. Drizzle the olive oil and honey over and toss to combine everything evenly. Arrange in an even layer and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour.

While the carrots are cooking, cook the quinoa according to the packet directions but use stock instead of water, and add the turmeric. Set aside once cooked, keeping it warm.

Prepare the preserved lemon by scraping out and discarding the flesh and membrane. Finely chop the rind and set aside.

After an hour is up, the carrots should look kind of shrunken and be starting to caramelise. Remove the garlic bulb and turn the heat up to 180°C. Add the orange zest and juice, chopped preserved lemon, raisins or other dried fruit, nuts and ginger to the carrot tray. Toss it all around a bit and bake for another 10 minutes until the nuts are just toasty. Leave to cool slightly.

Place the quinoa in a large serving bowl and add the carrot mixture as well as all the cooking juices from the tray. Squeeze in the roasted flesh from the garlic. Add the lemon juice and chopped coriander and mix gently to combine. Serve hot, or at room temperature if preferred.

TIPS

Steam 300–500g of green beans to add if you like – or throw in some wilted spinach.

If you love olives, you could chop up some green or Kalamata olives and mix them through too.

If you don’t have liquid stock for the quinoa, you can make it up with powdered stock in water.