Vegetarian mains
Moroccan carrot couscous salad
Roast carrots are delicious, but there are more energy efficient ways to cook them that avoid turning the oven on. Here we braise them instead. Braising means to cook/steam in a little water or stock. Adding Moroccan spices means the carrots absorb the flavour, and the remaining liquid flavours the rest of this quick, one-pan dish.
This makes a wholesome vegetarian meal. Or, batch cook and take for packed lunches. Alternatively, serve as a sharing salad. Serve with pitta breads if you're feeling particularly hungry.
Cook's notes
This can easily be made vegan by swapping the feta for a tahini dressing: whisk a couple of tablespoons of tahini with lemon juice, salt and pepper, a dash of water, and crushed garlic if you like too.
Ingredients
- 2 carrots, about 250g
- 1 1/2 tsp of ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds (optional)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp of paprika
- 100-200ml veggie stock
- 100g couscous (dried weight), or use cooked rice, chickpeas, bulghar wheat, spelt etc
- 1 orange (don't worry too much if you don't have one)
- Handful of raisins or sultanas
- 20g flaked almonds, or pine nuts
- 50g Feta, or try tahini dressing
- 20g mint and /or parsley
Method
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Step 1
Wash and cut the carrots into thin slices (peel first if you think they need it).
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Step 2
Add your spices to a frying pan/heavy bottomed casserole dish with about 100ml of veggie stock.
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Step 3
Add a little more water if needed (you don't want them to be submerged, but the pan base should be just covered) and if you have a lid, pop it on (lids mean quicker cooking time, which means less energy used).
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Step 4
In a heatproof bowl, cover your couscous in boiling water. Chop the herbs.
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Step 5
Once the carrots are cooked and tender, mix in the couscous, squeeze in the orange, add the sultanas/raisins and mix. Season with salt and pepper.
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Step 6
Plate up and sprinkle over the flaked almonds, crumble over the feta and finish with the herbs.
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Step 7
Serve with pitta breads if you are feeling hungry!