I don’t always eat spicy food, I promise! I do admit that I love the tantalizing burn of spicy food on my tongue, and the depth of flavor that comes from spicy peppers somewhat masked by its heat. So yes, I more often than not will err on the stronger side of spicy. However, for those who like mild meals with lots of flavor, this Moroccan rice salad is your fix.
I served my Moroccan rice salad with Peri Peri Prawns, a marrying of Northern and Southern African food in one plate, and this marriage was absolutely delicious. I know Morocco isn’t a tropical region where my recipes get a lot of inspiration from but I have a personal sentimental attachment to Morocco and Moroccan culture (more on that later)! My husband who generally hates salads actually really enjoyed this rice salad, and that says quite a lot coming from him. I don’t know if it matters that he didn’t know it was a salad until after his meal but that’s a testament to how much he enjoyed the recipe since he’s usually averse to salads (although my salads, starting from this one in particular have slowly started winning him over)!
Looks like a lot of garlic? Fret not! Since the garlic is first roasted, it ends up evening out without adding too strong a flavor.
Moroccan Rice Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups of uncooked parboiled rice
- 4 medium carrots grated
- A handful of roughly chopped parsley
- 1 large firm tomato chopped
- 1 medium red onion finely chopped
- 1 cup of sweet corn
- 8-10 cloves of roasted garlic
- 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 + 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cumin.
Instructions
- Boil rice according to package instructions with 1 tsp of salt.
- To prep the dressing, crush the roasted garlic, and 1/2 tsp salt with a mortar and pestle or in a food processor until it forms a smooth paste.
- Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic, black pepper and cumin until combined and set aside.
- Once the rice is done cooking, add in the carrots, onions, tomatoes, sweet corn and garlic and toss together. Drizzle the dressing onto the warm salad, and toss again.
- Serve warm or allow the salad to cool in the refrigerator and and serve.
Notes
This Moroccan rice salad can be served as a warm salad (which is how I and hubby prefer it) or it can be chilled and served cold. So how do you guys like your salads? Don’t forget to let me know how it turned out!
2 Comments
Sharon
February 3, 2015 at 1:01 pmI am a big fan of rice and couscous salads, I’ll definitely be giving this a try.
Emma
June 29, 2021 at 11:16 pmOne of our exchange girls made a version of this salad that I adored. This one is as close as I’ve been able to come to recreating it. Lovely. But not quite what she made.