Moroccan Vegetarian Couscous, Moroccan Sweet Carrot Salad & Moroccan Almond Milk - Well Balanced Meals

Moroccan cuisine is a very diverse cuisine, with many influences due to the various interaction of Morocco with the world for centuries..The cuisine of Morocco is a mix of Arab, Berber,Middle Eastern Mediterranean and African influences..The most famous Moroccan dishes are couscous, tajine and harira..I learned couscous through my moroccan friend, usually i prepare with chickens or mutton but this time i prepared this couscous as vegetarian version with vegetables.It can also be eaten alone, flavoured or plain, warm or cold, as a dessert or a side dish.The couscous granules are made from semolina (coarsely ground durum wheat) or in some regions, from coarsely ground barley or pearl millet.The semolina is sprinkled with water and rolled with the hands to form pellets, sprinkled with dry flour to keep them separate, and then sieved. The pellets which are too small to be finished granules of couscous fall through the sieve to be again sprinkled with dry semolina and rolled into pellets. This process continues until all the semolina has been formed into tiny granules of couscous. Sometimes salt is added to the semolina and water.Moroccan peoples uses their traditional vessel called couscousier to prepare this dish, which helps to steam cook the couscous grains at the same time to prepare the stew..

Coming to the sweet carrot salad and almond milk, its needs hardly few minutes to prepare, wat all u need is to grate the carrot and serve with honey, lemon juice and orange juice with cinnamon powder, some moroccan peoples also add dry fruits or nuts to add more richness to this salad, while the almond milk is prepared with blanched almonds blend with milk,honey and orange blossom water..Orange blossom water plays an important role in most of moroccan juices and fruits salad..Am sending all these three entries to Yasmeen's Well Balanced 3 Course Meals, Lubna's Joy From Fasting To Feasting and finally to AWED-Morocco guest hosted by Pavani, event started by DK..

Moroccan Vegetarian Couscous:
2cups Couscous
2nos Onions (chopped)
3nos Carrots
2nos Zucchini
3nos Turnips
2nos Celery Stalks
1no Green bellpepper
1no Red bellpepper
1no Potato
1tbsp Garlic (minced)
1cup Cooked chickpeas or canned chickpeas
1/2cup Parsley leaves (chopped)
1/2cup Coriander leaves (chopped)
1/2tsp Cumin seed powder
1/2tsp Paprika powder
2tbsp Tomato paste
1cup Fresh Tomato puree
2cups Vegetable broth water
2cups Water
3tbsp Olive oil
Salt
Pepper powder

Slice all the vegetables as large pieces..heat the olive oil in a large cooking pan, put the onions and stir the onions for a couple of minutes, add the minced garlic,parsley and coriander leaves...stir for a minute, add the paprika powder, cumin powder, salt and pepper powder..now add all the chopped vegetables except the bellpepper pieces to the pan and saute everything for a while.. add the vegetable broth, tomato puree, tomato paste and cook everything until the vegetables are half cooked, now add the bellpepper pieces and cooked chickpeas to the stew and cook until all the vegetables get cooked..u can easily poke them with a fork..

To make couscous:

Add a cup of water and bring boil with olive oil and salt..add the couscous grains to the water, give a stir and put off the stove..keep aside until the couscous grains absorb the water completely..

Serve the couscous, add the sauce then add the vegetables on the top of the couscous..enjoy!!

Moroccan Sweet Carrot Salad:
2cups Grated carrots
1/4cup Honey
2tbsp Orange juice
Few raisins
1/2tsp Cinnamon powder

Make a sauce with honey, orange juice, lemon juice and cinnamon powder...add this sauce to grated carrots and give a stir, serve as salad..

Moroccan Almond Milk:
20nos Blanched almonds
2cups Cold milk
1tbsp Orange blossom water
Honey as per ur need

Soak the almonds in hot water for half an hour..Blend the soaked almonds with cold milk, orange blossom water and honey as per need..

Serve chilled..Am sending this almond milk to Sireesha's Soups N Juice Event..