Moroccan Millet and Chickpea Salad


An abundance of millet and a can of chickpeas inspired this excellent vegetarian main course salad. It’s refreshing on these hot monsoon days and keeps well in the fridge. The Moroccan Spice mixture is an added plus to have on hand to mix into yogurt for a dip, with eggs, on roasted veggies, or into a tomato sauce.

 

Serves 8

Ingredients:

– 1/2 kg carrots cut on the diagonal 2-3 mm thick

– 1/2 cup red onion or shallots, thinly sliced

– 1 Tbl. olive oil

– 1 Tbl. Moroccan spice blend (see recipe below)

– 2/3 cups uncooked millet

– 1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed

– 3 Tbl. olive oil

– 4 Tbl. lemon juice

– 1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted  

– 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, sliced

– 1 1/2 cups Italian parsley, coarsely chopped

– 1/3 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped

– 2 Tbl. chopped preserved lemon

salt and pepper to taste

– 1/2 cup goat or feta cheese

– 2 Tbl. olive oil – if needed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

On a rimmed cookie sheet combine 1 Tbl. olive oil with the carrot and onion slices and the Moroccan spice mix. Toss well. Slide the sheet into the preheated oven and roast for 20 – 25 minutes, turning the veggies with a spatula from time to time so they brown evenly.

While this is roasting, cook the millet in a pot with a lid. Bring 1½ cups water and a pinch of salt to a boil, add the millet, stir well and then cover the pot. Lower the heat to a simmer and let the millet cook for about 20 minutes or until almost all the water is evaporated and the millet is cooked. Let this stand, covered, for 5 minutes then fluff with a fork.

In a large bowl, toss the roasted carrot and onion mixture with the cooked millet, the chickpeas, 3 Tbl. olive oil, and the lemon juice.

Now add the roasted almonds, the sundried tomatoes, the parsley and coriander leaves, preserved lemon, salt and pepper and toss this well.

Finally add the cheese and toss again. Taste for salt and pepper, adding 1-2 Tbl. more olive oil if the salad is too dry.

For the Moroccan Spice Mixture:

In a small bowl mix together:

– 1 tsp. ground cumin (I like to dry roast this first)

– 1 tsp. ground ginger

– 1 tsp. salt

– 3/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

– 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

– 1/2 tsp. ground coriander seeds

– 1/2 tsp. cayenne

– 1/2 tsp. ground allspice

– 1/4 tsp. ground cloves

– 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

I prefer to dry roast the mixture in a heavy frying pan until there is a beautiful aroma filling the kitchen, but that’s optional.

 

Moroccan Millet Salad

Untuk 8 orang

Bahan Bahan:

– 1/2 kg wortel dipotong miring kira kira 2-3mm tebal

– 1/2 cangkir bawang merah besar diiris tipis

– 1 Tbl. minyak olive

– 1 Tbl. Moroccan spice blend (lihat resep dibawah)

– 2/3 cangkir millet yang belum masak

– 1 cangkir chickpeas dari kaleng, dibilas

– 3 Tbl. minyak olive

– 4 Tbl. jus jeruk lemon

– 1/3 cangkir kacang almond diiris dan dipanggang  

– 1/4 cangkir tomat kering (tomat kering kaleng yang ada minyaknya, di iris

– 1½ cangkir daun parsley Italian, dipotong sedang

– 1/3 cup daun ketumbar dipotong sedang

– 2 Tbl. preserved lemon diiris

garam dan merica secukupnya

– 1/2 cangkir keju kambing atau feta

– 2 Tbl. minyak olive

Cara Membuat:

Panaskan oven sampai 375 derajat F.

Di atas cetakan metal taruh 1 Tbl minyak olive, irisan wortel, bawang merah dan bumbu Moraccan. Aduk bagus and ratakan di atas cetakan. Masukkan kedalam oven. Oven sampai berwarna coklat, kira kira 20-25 menit.

Sementara ini dioven, masak millet dengan 1 1/2 cangkir air dan satu jari garam. Tutup panci. Saat air mendidih, kecilkan api supaya matangnya merata, kira kir 18 menit atau saat airnya mau habis. Angkat dari api dan biarkan di samping 5 menit.

Di dalam mangkok cukup besar, masukkan campuran wortel dan bawang merah yang sudah masak, millet yang sudah dimasak, chickpeas, 1 Tbl. minyak olive, dan jus jeruk lemon. Aduk bagus sampai semua tercampur rata.

Sekarang tambahkan kacang almond, tomat kering, daun parsley dan daun ketumbar, preserved lemon, garam dan merica dan aduk bagus.

Tambahkan keju dan aduk lagi. Kalau terlalu kering, bisa tambahkan minyak olive lagi 2 Tbl.

Siap dihidangkan!!

Di bawah ini cara bikin , “Moroccan spice blend “

Untuk bikin Moroccan spice blend, di dalam mangkok kecil campur semua bahan dibawah ini, aduk sampai semua bahan tercampur bagus.

– 1 tsp. bubuk jinten (dipanggang dulu)

– 1 tsp. bubuk jahe

– 1 tsp. garam

– 3/4 tsp. bubuk merica hitam

– 1/2 tsp. bubuk kayu manis

– 1/2 tsp. bubuk biji ketumbar

– 1/2 tsp. bubuk cabe kering

– 1/2 tsp. bubuk allspice

– 1/4 tsp. bubuk pala

– 1/4 tsp. bubuk kapulaga

Catatan :

Bisa juga semua bahan diatas dicampur, kemudian dipanggang dulu di dalam wajan kering sampai ada bau harum. Kalau saya suka yang dipanggang tapi tidak harus.