Moroccan Beet Salad

Marinated beets with lemon juice, garlic, and cumin.

Step 1: Ingredients & Roasting

A friend served this beet salad at his Christmas party, then sent us home with the recipe. This is apparently a popular dish among Moroccan Jews. I've included the ingredient list here so you can get the basic ratio, which I of course muddle to my taste in preparation.

1 pound beets
1 lemon, juiced
1 clove garlic, minced/grated
1 teaspoon ground cumin
salt/pepper to taste
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
handful fresh parsley, chopped

Wash your beets, chopping the greens off if they're still attached, and put the still-wet roots in a large roasting pan. Cover it with foil, and drop it into a 375F oven for shortly under an hour.

While the beets are baking you can assemble the marinade, prepare other food items, or put up a new Instructable

Comments

[rupamagic]

Okay, I'm back. I just had the left-overs for breakfast along with my beet-dyed hard-boiled eggs. It was a great combo. Yum! Thanks again for the recipe!

[erigeeka]

Just made this last night for an xmas party tonight. Love this recipe!

[rattyrain]

You make very good 'bles, and very good food.

[dogpoop]

looks good.
check out my morrocan instructable over here it tells you how to make matbucha

[mje]

I'm absolutely going to make these this weekend. Is that a beet green garnish on top? BTW, I'll bet you're a fan of Tom Robbins' "Jitterbug Perfume"

[rupamagic]

That's one of my favorites. I am a fan of both beets and Robbins. Read it, Canida. Then read Skinny Legs and All if you like it enough to read another.

[canida]

The garnish is parsley, and I've never read any of Robbins's work.

[mje]

Years ago, someone said to me "YOu like beets? You should read "Jitterbug Perfume". I'll pass that wisdom on to you.

[canida]

Interesting. I'll have to track it down, thanks.

[juniperusjosh]

i made these and they were so delicious that i ate a kilo of beets (around 2 lbs) in less than 24 hours, and now i am peeing red. it was totally worth it though.

[canida]

Cool! This is apparently a bit difficult to accomplish, by the way; your urinary system is pretty good at breaking down beet pigments. Sometimes other foods can exert a protective effect on the pigments, allowing them to pass through unprocessed. It sounds like you've managed to some exciting combination of color-protective food pairing + simple volume. Your intestinal flora isn't particularly interested in beet pigments, and so lets them through mostly intact.

[juniperusjosh]

the phenomenon is known as beeturia. you can read about it online; some people experience it for no reason, some people experience it because they aren't getting enough iron, and some people (like me) get it from eating so much beet pigment than their digestive system simply can't digest all of it. yay for beets.

[rupamagic]

I remember using too much blue food coloring on a huge batch of potstickers (Yes, blue potstickers. What?!) when I lived in the warehouse in West Oakland, and the next day everyone was complaining--NO, actually they were all gleefully marveling--at their blue... well it wasn't pee. I find beets have the same results if I eat a lot of them, but not the canned ones.

[rupamagic]

Girl, I tried this salad today. Wow. I made it yesterday and chilled it for 24 hours.... added a couple lemon wedges at the end to make the lemon ZING... it was spectacular! I love beets, and I love cumin so this was a no-brainer home run for me, but wow, I can't believe how simple and perfect it is and that I have never had it! And i spent some time in Morocco! I did add some very thinly sliced white onions (the sweeter type) because I had them already sliced and they just wanted in, and I think they added a nice little crunch but I hardly think the flavor was compromised. The garlic, lemon, pepper and cumin ruled harmoniously here without a doubt. Mmmm, there's still some left in the fridge, I'm off for a bite!

[shibby]

That ain't Moroccan! Hell, that's jewish! EVERYTHING IS JEWISH. Tastes real good though :)

[mje]

I made a batch last weekend- a big batch. I'm eating some with lunch today.

[wombat7]

very nice!

[mdhaworth]

I'm excited about this, I have a few beets and a few lemons in my fridge waiting to be turned into something yummy. Thanks

[MrMunki]

This actually looks awesome, your food photos are great. I can't wait to try this.

[PetervG]

It looks gross and uneatable. Beats don't taste very good.

[canida]

Beats are for dancing, not eating.

[PetervG]

Hah, makes me giggle.