Moroccan Vegetarian Starters

Moroccan Vegetarian Starters Eggplant Zaalouk bell pepper Taktouka

As in our culture our meals are three courses menu the starters, the main dish and the desert … the starters can be a various choice of fresh or cooked salad in many restaurants you will find more than 8 choices of starters, Most of them are Vegetarian / Vegan dishes the most common ones are Zaalouk which is a delicious recipe made out of eggplant tomato and garlic, Taktouka also is a bell pepper salad with tomatoes and spices here are the recipes bellow … enjoy !!

Eggplant Starter (Zaalouk) :

Ingredients :4 Eggplants 1 tomato 1/2 lemon juice Garlic, parsley and coriander, black pepper, salt, sweet smoked paprika, cumin, olive oil.

Method :The eggplants should be grilled/charred on the gaz to get the smoky taste and to remove the skin, once grilled we put them in a plastic bag to sweat for about 10 to 15 min, they will come off wet and the skin should be easy to remove with some gentle finger moves, we cut them randomly and we put that in a pan on medium heat, add one unskinned and cut tomato, mash it with a spatula and put all the spices in (1cs from each) Garlic, parsley and coriander, black pepper, salt, sweet smoked paprika and cumin. Keep mashing until it gets rid off the water and the color gets darker. Plate it and finish it with some herbs and fillet of olive oil and the lemon juice.

 

Peppers Starter (Taktouka) :

Ingredients :3 Peppers different colors 1 tomato Garlic, parsley and coriander, black pepper, salt, sweet smoked paprika, cumin.

Method : The peppers should be grilled on the gaz to remove the skin, once grilled we put them in a plastic bag to sweat for about 20 to 30 min, they will come off wet and the skin should be easy to remove with some gentle back of the knife moves, we cut them long stripes (julienne) and we put that in a pan on medium heat with the unskinned and cut tomato, stir continuously with a spatula and put all the spices in (1cs from each) Garlic, parsley and coriander, black pepper, salt, sweet smoked paprika and cumin. Keep stirring until it gets rid off the water but not too long to keep the colors. Plate it and finish it with some herbs and fillet of olive oil.

 

Served from Morocco with Love