Moroccan Cooked Salads

Cooked Moroccan salads are best described as hearty dips which should be served with Moroccan bread. Two of Morocco's most popular salads, Zaalouk and Taktouka, are delicious enough – and filling enough – to be vegetarian meals in themselves. I've often wondered if they wouldn't make a nice topping for a bed of plain rice, but I never have enough leftovers to find out.

At a traditional Moroccan meal, where everyone eats from their side of a single large platter or tagine, salads are distributed on one plate between every two people. Be forewarned if you serve them to children this way – the salads will probably disappear before the entrée, and the kids will bicker over who ate more than their fair share!

Try the tomato-based Zaalouk and Taktouka, and you'll see why.