This is a tomato and cucumber salad which has been completely transformed with fresh and healing Moroccan flavors! In addition to all the healing herbs and spices, this salad also contains raw onions and garlic, which are very known to enhance immune function of the body.
Finely chop up half an onion. Add couple of super finely chopped up garlic cloves. Next add chopped up cucumber and tomatoes. Then add finely chopped up half a small dill pickle. Then chop up some cilantro, though we will add it at the very end!
In a salad mixing bowl, add all the chopped up ingredients minus cilantro. Then sprinkle some grated cheese mix. To increase nutrition quotient, I have added Tex-Mex mix which is made up of three cheese varieties (Mozarella, Cheddar and Monteray Jack). In case, you don’t have this, any single variety of cheese such as parmesan will also do. Now that we have all our key salad constituents in place, it is time to add all the healing herbs and spices.
First sprinkle some cumin powder. Then just a hint of coriander seed powder. Then a pinch or two of sumac. Sumac and dill pickle lend a slight sourness to balance our salad taste. That is the reason we have not specifically added any lemon juice or zest. But in case, you do not have any sumac or prefer to have a more sour-y taste, then feel free to add a little lemon juice and some grated lemon zest. Next fresh grind some black pepper over this mix followed with just a hint of sea salt (to taste). Then sprinkle generous amount of dried parsley. Finally add a little of Ras-al-Hanout. This is a specialty Moroccan spice mix. It lends a little extra oomph to the salad, but in case you don’t have it around, then no worries, you can easily skip it!
Once you drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over this salad, mix it well and serve it in a bowl with fresh cilantro as a garnish as well as a distinct salad component. This is a very Moroccan style of salad-presentation. Also, if you want to increase nutritional content, then substitute all or some of the olive oil with flax seed oil for an extra dash of Omega 3s.
Read about healing health benefits of including tomatoes in your diet.
It looks gorgeous and tastes great. Hope you enjoy it. Do let me know how yours turned out in comments below…
Finely chop up half an onion. Add couple of super finely chopped up garlic cloves. Next add chopped up cucumber and tomatoes. Then add finely chopped up half a small dill pickle. Then chop up some cilantro, though we will add it at the very end!
In a salad mixing bowl, add all the chopped up ingredients minus cilantro. Then sprinkle some grated cheese mix. To increase nutrition quotient, I have added Tex-Mex mix which is made up of three cheese varieties (Mozarella, Cheddar and Monteray Jack). In case, you don’t have this, any single variety of cheese such as parmesan will also do. Now that we have all our key salad constituents in place, it is time to add all the healing herbs and spices.
First sprinkle some cumin powder. Then just a hint of coriander seed powder. Then a pinch or two of sumac. Sumac and dill pickle lend a slight sourness to balance our salad taste. That is the reason we have not specifically added any lemon juice or zest. But in case, you do not have any sumac or prefer to have a more sour-y taste, then feel free to add a little lemon juice and some grated lemon zest. Next fresh grind some black pepper over this mix followed with just a hint of sea salt (to taste). Then sprinkle generous amount of dried parsley. Finally add a little of Ras-al-Hanout. This is a specialty Moroccan spice mix. It lends a little extra oomph to the salad, but in case you don’t have it around, then no worries, you can easily skip it!
Once you drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over this salad, mix it well and serve it in a bowl with fresh cilantro as a garnish as well as a distinct salad component. This is a very Moroccan style of salad-presentation. Also, if you want to increase nutritional content, then substitute all or some of the olive oil with flax seed oil for an extra dash of Omega 3s.
Read about healing health benefits of including tomatoes in your diet.
It looks gorgeous and tastes great. Hope you enjoy it. Do let me know how yours turned out in comments below…
Tomato and Cucumber salad with Moroccan Herbs and Spices
Tomato and Cucumber salad with Moroccan Herbs and Spices
