These two Middle Eastern style salads make an excellent accompaniment for fried halloumi cheese, or grilled meat, chicken or fish. You could also serve them as part of a mezze (appetiser) first course.
In this salad the combination of sweet onions and peas is balanced by salty preserved lemon.
Heat some olive oil in a small saucepan and fry 1 large chopped onion until it is soft and translucent. Add frozen baby peas and 2 quarters of finely diced preserved lemon rind. Continue to cook until the peas are just soft. Turn off the heat and add 1-2 tablespoons of yoghurt, 1 crushed clove of garlic and salt to taste. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with a little sumac. Serve warm or at room temperature.
The recipe for this salad of leeks and carrots is from Turkish Cooking by Gülseren Ramazanoglu, an invaluable cookbook I bought many years ago from the Australia-Turkish Friendship Society.
Wash and cut 1-2 leeks into 4cm (1½”) lengths. Trim and cut 2-3 carrots into diagonal slices. Heat some olive oil in a heavy saucepan until very hot. Add the carrots and leeks and cook them for a few minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of long grain rice, some salt and a little sugar. If your carrots are very sweet just a pinch of sugar will do. Continue to cook and toss in the hot oil for a few more minutes before adding 1 – 1½ cups of boiling water. Reduce the heat, cover and allow to cook for approximately 10 minutes or until the leeks are quite soft. Transfer the salad to a serving dish, sprinkle with some fresh chopped parsley and allow to cool. When cooled a little, add lemon juice to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.
michelle picker cooks 