Jun 16, 2016  By Jewish National Fund  Category: Blueprint Negev,

In the JNF Kitchen: Delicious Moroccan-style carrot salad

Looking for side dishes for your BBQ or summer picnic? Try our #RecipeOfTheWeek, a delicious Moroccan carrot salad flavored with garlic, paprika, and cilantro. This recipe is brought to us by Shula Amar, who emigrated to Israel in 1959 from Morocco with her parents and four brothers. Shula was raised and still lives in Yerucham, a Negev town rich in culinary traditions imported by Jews from Morocco and the Middle East. Yerucham is also a focus of JNF's Blueprint Negev initiative.

Before Yerucham had restaurants, its community saw a desire to bring visitors in and created a program that feeds, educates, and entertains travelers. Residents generate a hospitality industry right out of their homes while telling guests about their culture and background and educating through recipes. Women whose children have left home host travelers in their homes for home-cooked meals -- some of the best in Israel! As Shula says, "Our hospitality and ability to improvise is well-known."


Enjoy this #RecipeOfTheWeek, and if you make any of these recipes, be sure to send a photo of your creation to teddyherzl18@gmail.com or tweet it to @JNFUSA with the hashtag #JNFfoodie. We might share it! 

Ingredients

8 carrots
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bunch cilantro finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
Salt to taste
Directions

Peel carrots and slice them about a quarter of an inch thick. Boil water and add carrots, cook until soft, drain well. 

Heat oil, add garlic and fry without letting it brown for a couple minutes, add paprika, salt, cilantro, and carrots. Mix carefully to prevent carrot slices from breaking, and fry lightly on both sides. 

May be kept refrigerated for two days. 

The women of Yerucham have created a cookbook, "Flavors & Delights of Yeruham," which is produced and sold by Atid Bamidbar (with an English translation) and captures the culinary riches of the town while focusing on the personal stories of the cooks, their recipes, and the flavors and atmosphere that surround them. It's a human and culinary journey.

"This book is first and foremost an invitation to visit this unique town, to taste its favors, to visit its lake, its Crater and its archaeological sites, and to participate in the local Yeruham experience." --Amram Mitzna