Moroccan Harissa Salad + Bowls of Goodness Cookbook

My friend Nina of Nourish Atelier has always been an inspiration to me. Visually, she creates some of the most breathtaking food photos I’ve ever seen, with incredible style and ease. As for recipes her food is incredibly inventive and nourishing every time. I’ve been obsessed with her and all she has been doing for years.

So when Nina came out with her cookbook, Bowls of Goodness, I was freaking thrilled. “Stuff in a bowl” is my favorite kind of food category, so this was right up my alley. When it arrived, I tore through the pages and spent way too long trying to figure out what I would make for you all.

I settled on this Moroccan Harissa Bowl with cauliflower, red onion, carrots, avocado and an orange tahini sauce. It’s filling, and affordable, and *very* easy to make. Plus it’s vegan and gluten free so you can serve it to just about anyone. It’s the simplicity of ingredients, but uniqueness of flavors that astounds me on this one. I’m seriously going to be eating it all week.

I still have other recipes bookmarked like her Golden Shakshuka, Pear and Spicy Seitan Salad, Rainbow Grain Bowl, and Cherry Choco and Sea Salt Crumble. (ummm.. YUM.) This book has so much to explore, and makes cooking healthy feel easy to do. If I’ve convinced you to buy it (which you should) here is the link: Bowls of Goodness on Amazon.

For more bowl recipes, check out: Spicy Curried Cauliflower and Millet Bowl, Green Goddess Breakfast Salad, Healthy Chinese Chicken Kale Salad, or my Carrot Noodle Vegetarian Ramen. 

This recipe is reprinted and adapted, with permission, from Nina Olsson’s cookbook – Bowls of Goodness : Vibrant Vegetarian Recipes full of Nourishment.

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Moroccan Harissa Salad

Course: Salad, Savory, Stuff in a Bowl

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 4

Author: Brewing Happiness

This vegan Moroccan Harissa Salad from the Bowls of Goodness Cookbook is packed with vegetables, avocado and topped with an orange tahini dressing!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup harissa sauce (sub 2 tablespoons harissa paste with 2 tablespoons water)
• 1 medium cauliflower, florets separated
• salt
• 2 red onions, cut in wedges
• 6-8 carrots, shaved into thin bands or thin circles
• 3-4 avocados, pitted, peeled and cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup toasted almonds

Orange Tahini Dressing

• 1 orange, juiced and zested
• 1 garlic clove
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

To Serve

• sesame seeds
• Moroccan mint leaves

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Arrange cauliflower on the lined baking sheet. Mix the olive oil with the harissa and pour over the cauliflower, making sure they are well coated. Sprinkle with salt and roast alongside the onion wedges for 35 minutes. Toss cauliflower and onion wedges after 20 minutes. Once tender, remove from the oven.

3. While cauliflower and onion is roasting, blend the dressing ingredients into a smooth sauce. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

4. Mix the roasted veggies with the carrot, avocado, raisins, and almonds. Top with sesame seeds and mint leaves. Serve with the orange tahini dressing.

5. EAT UP. 

In this life there are some important things we must protect. Our time. Our sanity. Our family. Our hearts. Our bodies.

I have talked often on this site about the ways in which I have abused my own body, restricting and shaming it into submission. I have spoken openly about disordered eating and the voices in my head that tell me I’m not enough. I have admitted to my personal hand in my own self degradation, but I have not spoken about the effects of others – of society, of standards, of men.

Me too.

The hashtag has been trending in the last few days in an effort to expose and unite the women whom have dealt with sexual harassment and assault.

I stand with all of those women, because I am one. I cannot walk the street without my body becoming a subject for passers by to comment on. I have to fear every direct message from a man I don’t know. I constantly deflect and redirect conversations with men away from the sexual. And these are just the day to day offenses.

In this world a woman has to fight very hard to protect her body – to have ownership over it. It is hard enough to make it through this world unharmed by your own mind or by the expectations of society and instagram goals. And yet, we must never forget to factor in the constant barrage of unwanted harassment and assault to your body. It is a lot to handle. It should be too much.

But women carry it. Shoulder it. Hide it.

It shapes us all, but is so rarely talked about.

Growing up I was told that men yelling things and telling me to smile was a compliment, and I should be nice. That is a lie. And that lie has made me laugh in uncomfortable circumstances instead of confronting them. It has made me feel guilty for having a body. It has confused right and wrong. But, sadly, it is common.

I have no way to solve the crisis of culture. I have no way to protect each and every one of you (though I wish I could.) I wish I could sit in a circle with you all eating Moroccan Harissa Bowls and sharing our stories. I wish I could cry with you. I wish I could hug you. But I can’t. I can only tell you that I love you. I am with you. I believe you. You are safe here.

Your body will be subjected to many things in this lifetime – illness, anguish, pain, hunger, harassment, and possibly assault. So all I can truly hope is that we begin to make friends with our own bodies at home, in the mirror, in safe places. The world can be cruel and unkind and scary. Don’t needlessly add to the abuse. Try to be kind to yourself. Hold your heart close.

Your body is yours. Try to be kind. xo.