North African Style Spicy Carrot, Beet and Chickpea Side Dish Recipe

Some of the most delicious vegetable dishes I’ve tasted were North African or Moroccan dishes so I used those flavors and came up with this dish. This dish is a BOMB of flavors so it’s not for everyone but it really is delicious. It’s spicy, sweet, salty, sour with fresh herbs that brighten it up. I think it would FORKING GREAT with some grilled chicken and maybe a little plain white rice or couscous for one of those bowl meals.

Ingredients for about 7 servings

1 lb carrots – peeled and in slices

2 beets – roasted – peeled – cut in cubes

1/4 cup golden raisins

1 – 15.5 oz canned reduced sodium garbanzo beans – rinsed three times – drained

6 pimento stuffed green olives – sliced

1 Tablespoon course sea salt (or to taste…)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

2 Tablespoons Aleppo pepper

8 Tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon hot paprika

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 bay leaf

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon date syrup (I used local McClendons Brand)

2 Tablespoons parley leaves – chopped

2 Tablespoons cilantro leaves (some fine stems ok) – chopped

2 Tablespoons mint leaves – chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a baking dish add the carrots, raisins, chick peas, bay leaf and olives and set to the side.

Peel beets and wrap in foil with a little water. (place on a lined baking sheet or pan because they might leak) ((Also you can’t cook gold beets this way because they react with foil. You boil gold beets)) Roast till done (about an hour or more depending on size and freshness)

In small mixing bowl add salt, oil, garlic, tomato paste, Aleppo pepper, water, all the paprikas, coriander, cumin, vinegar and date syrup. Mix well and pour over carrot/chick pea mixture. Cover with lid or foil. Cook till carrots are soft. Timing will differ depending on pan, oven and size and age of carrots. Mine were done in 75 minutes. Mix in the beets and fresh chopped herbs before serving.

North African Style Spicy Carrots Beets and Chick Peas Side Dish

It really is delicious! if you can take some heat and bold flavors you will enjoy this.

The Forking Truth

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.