Spicy Moroccan Carrot Salad

I woke up with this quote on my mind:

Turns out that today was a pretty great day, full of awesome little things. It was cold but sunny outside, which resulted in incredible hoar frost. The frost was irresistible: I was heading to school and got so distracted by it I went back to my flat and grabbed my camera.

Then I sat in the back during one of Bill's 'Atheism' classes, which was fun. Then I had a fairly long conversation with Arthur, the new MA to the office, discussing our research and methods of conducting research. He demonstrated his practice of working on Chinese calligraphy as a means of clearing his mind when he needed to, which was beautiful to watch. I am going to ask him if I can take a picture next time - the paper he works on turns black when made wet with water and then goes back to its normal blue as it dries. I enjoyed watching the characters surface and fade. After that, I read and took notes for a while before braving the cold to walk to the grocery to see if they had any cilantro. Despite the cold, it was a good walk. Everything was sparkly and my inner magpie was thrilled. And then there was cilantro! My walk back to the flat was enjoyable, and cumulated in another bit of everyday awesome - mail. Mail that wasn't bills, even.

I've been waiting for this piece of mail pretty eagerly. In December - after I had returned to Edmonton for the holiday break - I received an email saying that U of R had re-opened the competition for the SSHRC scholarship. This scholarship is a pretty big deal. I had too much going on during the time of the original competition to attempt it, but I was in a better position when it re-opened. So I spent a very chaotic week trying to arrange all the supporting documents and work out a solid proposal. Everything - unexpectedly - came together, despite the very tight deadline. I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people who helped me get it together. This letter would let me know if my proposal made it through the internal competition and would be forwarded to the federal-level competition. I am excited to say my proposal is being forwarded to the federal competition. This is good news! 

I decided that I wanted to make dinner to celebrate, and decided on Spicy Moroccan Carrot Salad from Plenty because it seemed festive. 

Spicy Moroccan Carrot Salad

(p. 14)

Serves 4

2 lbs carrots

1/3 cup olive oil, plus extra to finish 

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 tsp sugar

3 garlic cloves, crushed

2 medium green chiles, finely chopped

1 green onion, finely chopped

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground coriander

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp chopped preserved lemon

salt

2 1/2 cups cilantro leaves, plus extra to garnish

1/2 cup Greek yogurt, chilled

Assemble ingredients!

Peel the carrots and cut them, depending on their size, into cylinders or semi-circles ~1/2 inch thick; all the pieces should end up roughly the same size. Place chopped carrots into a large saucepan and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until tender but still crunchy. Drain in a colander and leave to dry out. I found that 10 minutes gave me 'al dente' carrots - that is, cooked all the way through and nicely firm, but they weren't what I would describe as 'crunchy', although I think crunchy might have thrown me off anyway, so perhaps it's all for the best.

Heat the oil in a large pan (I wiped out the large frying pan I used to cook the carrots and used it again) and saute the onions for 12 minutes on medium heat until soft and slightly brown. At first I thought that the 1/3 cup oil was too generous: 

It looked like a lot of oil in real life.

But it turns out just right in the end, so I don't recommend skimping here, although watch the colour of your onions. Mine only needed about 10 minutes to get to the 'soft and slightly brown' stage, and by 12 minutes they were starting to get quite dark, although that isn't a problem for me as I really enjoy caramelized onions. Add the cooked carrot to the onions, and then add the remaining ingredients except for the cilantro and the yogurt. I had to omit the preserved lemon as I didn't have any (although I found a recipe for making some, so that experiment will occur soon).

Remaining ingredients.

Remove the pan from heat. Season liberally with salt (or don't; I skipped this and it was not a problem), stir well, and leave to cool.

Before serving, stir in the cilantro, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve in individual bowls with a dollop of yogurt, a drizzle of oil and garnished with the extra cilantro. I skipped the additional oil as I felt there was enough present to suit my tastes already, although I could see the appeal of using an infused finishing oil rather than just the plain olive oil I'd been working with.

I would say this is easily my new favourite way to eat carrots. I like it warm, and the yogurt is nice but not necessary. The cilantro is also nice, but not necessary (I know some people really don't care for cilantro). Part of me wonders about omitting the cilantro, pureeing the carrots and turning it into a filling for a savoury tart... could be tasty...