Originally published on October 15th 2018
What’s going on brothers and sisters?
While I do cook at home almost year-round, winter is usually prime cooking time for me. This recipe is Called Taktouka. It’s a warm salad or side that is essentially made by roasting peppers and cooking them in a fresh tomato sauce.
What is Taktouka ?
It sounds like Shakshuka right ? And it even looks somewhat similar if you try really hard to see similarities. In Morocco, Taktouka is a very common warm salad, like zaalouk, made mainly of very simple ingredients: roasted bell peppers, fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic and olive oil.
Taktouka is an extremely popular dish. I have lived in the south, center, Mediterranean coast, Atlantic coast and I have always found this dish on every menu and every household table I have been invited to.
It’s for real.
How to make Taktouka
Here are the key ingredients:
Ripe Vine Tomatoes: you can also use Italian tomatoes(Roma Tomatoes). Stick to fresh tomatoes and avoid using canned as they are more acidic and don’t taste nearly as good in this type of this.
Sweet Peppers: You can use long peppers or bell peppers. Sweet green peppers are the usual choice, but you can use any other color you prefer. I am a big fan of red and yellow and will be using that for this recipe.
Onions & Garlic: crucial ingredients in any Moroccan tomato sauce. Make sure that your onions are finely minced to avoid having big chunks in the sauce.
Olive oil, cumin and paprika: the Moroccan trifecta. That’s all I’m going to say about this.
Making Taktouka is very straightforward. The first thing you need to do is roast your sweet peppers.
To roast your red bell peppers you need to broil them in your oven until they look like the photo above. Once ready put your peppers in a Ziploc bag and seal it.
Make the sauce: Start by mincing your onion and garlic. Heat up 1 tbsp. of olive oil in a non stick pan on medium-low and add your onion and garlic. Cook for 4-5 minutes and add your fresh diced tomatoes, cumin, paprika and salt. Cook for 5 minutes and add your tomato paste.
Open your Ziploc bag and peel the charred skin from the peppers along with the seeds. Cut the peppers into strips and add to the sauce. Cook for another 3-5 minutes and turn off the heat.
Garnish with some freshly chopped parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.
How to Serve Taktouka
Like most Moroccan dishes, Taktouka is served with bread. Preferably a Moroccan bread or at the least a bakery style French bread.
The whole purpose of the bread is to soak that awesome tomato sauce, of course.
No to mention that eating this without bread, or any other saucy Moroccan dish, is just wrong. They are made to be enjoyed with bread.
Today’s Recipe
Moroccan Taktouka : roasted peppers and tomato salad
This easy Moroccan Side dish is 100% vegan and super easy to make. It's made using roasted sweet peppers, fresh tomatoes and a banging blend of spices!
Ingredients
- 2 large sweet peppers
- 1 tbsp olive oil plus more for garnish
- 1 large onion finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves
- 5 ripe italian tomatoes grated
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
To roast your red bell peppers you need to broil them in your oven for about 8-10 minutes, turning them halfway to ensure even cooking.
Once ready put your peppers in a Ziploc bag and seal it.
Making the sauce
Start by mincing your onion and garlic. Heat up 1 tbsp. of olive oil in a non stick pan on medium-low and add your onion and garlic.
Cut your tomatoes in half (length-wise) and use a box grater to grate the inside of the tomato into a bowl to extract the pulp out and set aside. If you don't feel like grating tomatoes, you can just dice them.
Cook for 4-5 minutes and add your fresh grated/diced tomatoes, cumin, paprika and salt. Cook for 5 minutes and add your tomato paste.
Open your Ziploc bag and peel the charred skin from the peppers along with the seeds. Cut the peppers into strips and add to the sauce. Cook for another 3-5 minutes and turn off the heat.
Garnish
Garnish with some freshly chopped parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.
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