Moroccan carrot and chickpea salad

May 6, 2016

The Saturday before the play ended, I bought all the ingredients for this salad. It was going to be my Recuperation Treat. I planned to make it on Monday when I was in The Pit of Despair and then eat myself sick. Or else orange. Because I turn orange when I eat too many carrots. (Or at least I used to. When I was in high school, my skin turned orange. It was noticeable, too, like I had dipped myself in a bag of cheese curls. I think I actually went to a doctor about it and they said I was eating too many carrots. So I dialed back the carrots and my normal, super-white skin color returned.)

Anyway. I discovered this salad at a church potluck, one of my favorite hot-spots for recipe discoveries. As soon as I tasted the salad, I determined to find the maker of said salad as soon as possible, but then I got distracted with conversation and by the time I was ready to chase down the salad maker, most everyone had already left the fellowship hall, their empty dishes in hand. 

That afternoon I shot a couple emails to people who I thought might know who had made the salad (no luck there) before remembering that the women in our church have a Facebook page. So I hopped on over and typed in my desperate plea: “Do any of you know who brought the Indian salad to potluck today…the one with chickpeas, shredded carrots, and nuts? I NEED that recipe!” Within mere minutes, the recipe was mine. Social media, at its best!

But then my son dismounted from his bike incorrectly and by the time the dust settled, the fresh bundle of cilantro had rotted in its plastic wrap and the limes had turned wrinkly brown. So then I had to wait till I got my ducks in a row enough to make it to the grocery store again, which I finally did, and then, a few days later—Wednesday of this week, to be precise (this story is making me tired)—I finally got around to actually making the salad, whew.

I ate a couple mountains of it for supper that night, and then another mountain for lunch the next day, and there’s still enough left for a couple more lunches, hallelujah. (No one else in the family is crazy for it, though they did manage to eat it with minimal theatrics.)

What do I love about it, you ask? Let me count the ways! There’s the crunch from the nuts and carrots, the sweetness from the dates, the creaminess from the feta and chickpeas, the complex flavors from the cilantro, cumin, nutmeg, and red pepper, and the tang from the lime. It’s light and de-light-ful and I think it’s in your best interests to try it.

So do!

Moroccan Carrot and Chickpea Salad
Adapted from Popsugar.

Since my limes were gnarly, I subbed in the zest from one lemon and just used the limes for juice. It worked. Also, I used chopped mixed nuts instead of the pistachios, and minced some regular onion instead of the green onions.

I feel like this is a lot of carrot—perhaps you could dial back the carrot to three cups and toss in another can of chickpeas…maybe?

This salad is great all by itself, but I also enjoy eating it with a generous handful of salad greens. And would some chopped Kalamata olives go good with this, or is that a crazy idea? Just thinking out loud…

4 cups grated carrots
1 15.5-ounce can (or 1½ cups) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
7-10 dried dates, pitted and chopped
1-2 tablespoons minced onion
½ cup cilantro
¾ cup feta cheese
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 limes, juice and zest
¾ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon each nutmeg and red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon each turmeric, salt, and black pepper
½ cup chopped nuts (pistachios, cashews, almonds, pecans)

Toss together the carrot, chickpeas, dates, onion, cilantro, and cheese. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, juice and zest, and spices. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss to combine. Just before serving (so they don’t lose their crunch), add the nuts.

This same time, years previous: fence, the quotidian (5.6.13), my boy, rhubarb-smothered chicken and chicken with mushrooms, I have nothing to say, the bike question revisited, and baked macaroni and cheese.  

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18 Comments

  • Athanasia

    May 9, 2016 at 6:32 pm Reply

    The recipe sounds delicious and I would make it tonight except that it's still too early for our cilantro to be up. I tried checking the link to read the original, but says does not exist or some such thing.
    I was wondering if when you made it you doubled or tripled the recipe as when I add up the volume of the ingredients I don't see mountains and mountains of salad.

    • Jennifer Jo

      May 9, 2016 at 7:33 pm Reply

      I fixed the link (sort of)—thanks for the heads up!

      I made a single recipe which was about a quart and a half of salad. This would easily make 8-12 moderate servings, but I ate it in several goes, so I counted my portions as "mountains" of salad. (And after all the chewing, I felt like I had climbed several mountains!)

    • Athanasia

      May 10, 2016 at 3:46 am Reply

      Good. That sounds like the right amount for our dinner and left over for me to take to work for lunch the next day.

  • katie

    May 9, 2016 at 1:23 pm Reply

    I concur. This is absolutely delicious. I ate it with rice for a complete meal. Also put some chopped fresh mint I had laying around into the dressing.

    • Margo

      May 10, 2016 at 7:05 pm Reply

      Asian-Inspired Coleslaw – from River Cottage Veg via my friend Rebecca

      1 bunch of green onions, sliced
      4 carrots peeled and shredded
      1 small head of purple or green cabbage, shredded
      handful of cilantro, coarsely torn

      Stir vegetables together and dress with the following dressing:

      2 T. each of:
      white wine vinegar
      toasted sesame oil
      olive oil
      soy sauce

      1 T. honey
      1 T. finely chopped ginger
      1 clove of garlic, minced
      Shake all ingredients together.

      The coleslaw may be dressed earlier on the day you want to serve it, but by the next day things have gone a bit watery. I usually double the dressing recipe and use not quite all of the doubled recipe for this amount of vegetables.

  • Margo

    May 7, 2016 at 8:30 pm Reply

    I will make this! I agree that church potlucks are the BEST recipe sources – got a sesame coleslaw recipe at the last one and bagged it from the first person I asked. Whew.

    Can I use dried dates, do you think? Maybe if I soaked them in hot water a bit?

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