Moroccan carrot salad

Well, I say Moroccan, but actually I've never been to Morocco, so who am I to talk? This simpe fresh dish is pretty ubiquotous where I'm from, and always comes under the heading of "Moroccan salad" - so it could be seen as more of a name for the dish than a strictly descriptive geographical provenance thingy. I got lost in that sentence. Hopefully you get the drift.

Dead easy and intensely satisfying:

• 3 Large, ripe carrots, peeled
• Small handful of raisins (not currants)
• 1/2 a lemon
• Pinch of sugar
• Pinch of salt

Grate the carrots on a coarse grater. This can be done in a food processor, but frankly it's done so quickly that I find taking the food processor out and setting it up just for this too much hassle.

Add the raisins, sugar and salt. Squeeze in the juice from the lemon and mix thoroughly. Leave to stand for about an hour before serving.

That's it, you're done! For such a simple dish it's a wonderfully hearty accompaniment to any BBQ, veggie meal, sandwich, or just as a healthy bit of those five daily portions we all need...

Another carrot salad that I've eaten in Morocco was made with carrots and orange juice.

Being a Muslim country, it is quite hard to get alcoholic drinks in Morocco. Many restaurants don't mind if you bring you own wine, but they don't sell it, and although there are bars to be found where you can buy beer and similar drinks, these tend to be on the sleazy side. To make up for this, though, you can buy wonderful freshly squeezed orange juice on almost any street corner and in any restaurant. And it's cheap, too. Moroccans themselves probably have quite a love for orange juice and it shows in this salad.

For four people you need:

• 500 grams of carrots, peeled and grated
• 2 sweet, juicy oranges
• Some salt

Juice one of the oranges. Peel the other one thickly so you cut all the way through to the "meat"of the fruit, then cut out the orange wedges.

Combine the carrots, orange pieces and orange juice in a bowl, add some salt to taste, mix well. The salad should be quite juicy. There, that's all! You could add some raisins like in the recipe above if you like your salad sweet, or a bit of orange blossom water to give it some fragrance.

I once had this salad when I was just recovering from a nasty bout of food poisoning and it was really, really good. It's perfect for a hot summer day. Do try it.