v:gourmet

Never underestimate root vegetables for their taste, colour, nutritional value, and longevity. Take carrots for instance. They are delicious; they come in orange, yellow, purple, red, and white; they last in the fruit cellar for a good long time; and they are said to cleanse the intestines and to be diuretic, remineralizing, antidiarrheal, an overall tonic and antianemic, they purify and revitalize the blood, and you know about the eyesight thing. Having helped my grandmother on the farm steam carrots and smother then in butter thousands of times I thought it was time to branch out. This moroccan salad from Yotam Ottolenghi is sweet, spicy, and lemony, and is a great salad on its own or as a friend to any grain.

2 lbs carrots

1/3 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 tsp sugar

3 cloves garlic, 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

sea salt and pepper

2 1/2 cups cilantro

Scrub the carrots and cut them, depending on their size, into cylinders or semicircles; all the pieces should end up roughly about the same size. Place in a large saucepan and steam until carrots are tender but still crunchy.

Heat the oil in a large pan and saute the onion for 12 minutes on medium heat until soft and slightly brown. Add the cooked carrots to the onion, followed by all the remaining ingredients, apart from the cilantro. Remove from the heat. Season liberally with sea salt and pepper, stir well and leave to cool.

Before serving stir in cilantro, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve in individual bowls with a drizzle of olive oil and garnished with the extra cilantro.