Moroccan side dishes

When I decided to make Bill Granger's Moroccan Lamb Tagine I decided to go all out and make a bit of a Moroccan feast. I considered making a Jamie Oliver carrot salad which I had made previously however I didn't have everything that I needed for it. So instead I turned to google and came up with two recipes on different blogs. The first was this glorious looking recipe for mezgaldi over at Kayotic Kitchen. It was such a stunning looking dish and you could almost taste how wonderful it would be just looking at Kay's photos. The only change that I made to the recipe was to use red onions. It was so stunningly good that I will be making this side dish again and again with a variety of different meals. It has also convinced me to go looking for more onion side dishes rather than using them as just a seasoning or flavouring. Making them a star really isn't too hard if this recipe is anything to go by. 

The other side dish that I found was a Moroccan cabbage dish. I made a number of changes from the original recipe. I was a bit apprehensive about the orange flower water as part of the dressing but I was very pleased with how good it was. The cinnamon was rather unusual for me too but again it was very good. The pomegranate seeds added a lovely tangy burst while eating. I just loved this however I did use up the last of my orange flower water so I will have to wait until I can get some more before I can make it again. 

Moroccan Cabbage Salad 

Ingredients: 

• 1/4 cabbage, finely sliced 
• 1 carrot, julienned 
• 1 apple, julienned 
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds 
• 1 - 2 tbsp sesame seeds 
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp sugar 
• 1 tbsp orange flower water (or to taste, I started off slowly and added more) 

Method: 

• Place cabbage, carrot, apple, pomegranate and sesame seeds in a bowl and toss to combine. 
• Add cinnamon, sugar and orange flower water and mix to combine. 
• Refrigerate until requires but let sit at least 20 minutes for the flavours to develop.