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You are here: Home / Recipes / Vegetable side dishes / Moroccan-spiced roasted vegetables

Moroccan-spiced roasted vegetables

by Jeanne Horak on January 19, 2010 28 Comments in Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Vegan, Vegetable side dishes

MoroccanSpicedVegetables

So the festive season is well and truly over.  All the Christmas decorations have been taken down, all the gammon leftovers have been eaten, and everyone is talking about good intentions, more exercise, losing weight, drinking less and eating light.

Going out to dinner with friends has become fraught with difficulties as this one won’t go to a pizza joint (“I’m off carbs”), that one won’t go to a steak joint (“I’m trying to keep vegetarian this month”) and nobody will share a bottle of wine with me as half the world seems to by trying to have an alcohol-free January!  And having people round for a meal is no less complicated, as endless lists of things friends aren’t eating find their way into my inbox while I am finalising the menu.

What’s a girl to do??

I am not into culinary self-denial, and I refuse to serve my friends a bowl of bean sprouts when they come to visit, so the search has been on for diet-friendly but still tasty foods to take the edge off January’s self-imposed food restrictions.  Remember last year I posted about my friend Kalyn’s spicy roasted chickpeas?  As I said, the spice mix makes a lot more than you need for the chickpeas, so I kept the extra spice and kept finding uses for it – most notably as the perfect spice mix in which to toss vegetable chunks prior to roasting!

Roasting vegetables is almost always my favourite way to cook them as I love the concentrated flavours that roasting produces, and the fact that once the chopping is done, you don’t have a lot to do and can focus on other things.  The vegetables that you use are open to your interpretation – these are just the ones I happened to have in my fridge on the day I made this.  On their own, these Moroccan-spiced vegetables make a delicous side dish; or served on fluffy couscous, they make a vegan (and diet-friendly!) main course for the fussiest eaters.  I am repeating the spice mix recipe here and I would highly recommend keeping some of the mix permanently in your spice rack (in an airtight container) to sprinkle on anything from chickpeas to potatoes to chicken. it’s the perfect thing to add a little spice to an abstemious, grey January.

Moroccan-spiced roasted vegetables II

MOROCCAN-SPICED ROASTED VEGETABLES (serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side dish)

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized aubergine
2 courgettes
1 large red onion
half a butternut sqush, peeled and deseeded
olive oil

FOR THE MOROCCAN SPICE MIX:
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp chile powder (I used Osman’s chilli powder that a friend brought from South Africa)
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (I omitted this as I had none)
a pinch ground cloves
1/2 tsp sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Chop all the vegetables into bite-sized chunks and place in a bowl.  Add a good glug of olive oil and 2-3 tablespoons of the Moroccan spice mix, depending on how spicy you want your vegeteables.  Using your hands, toss the vegetables in the oil and spices until they are thoroughly coated.

Turn the vegetables out onto a foil-lined roasting tray and plae in the centre of the oven.  Roast for about 40 minutes, or until the butternut squash chunks are tender.  Serve on couscous, or as a side dish with chicken or fish.

 

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  1. Kitchen Butterfly says

    January 19, 2010 at 8:00 pm

    I’m on a quest to cook up a middle eastern feast. This looks lovely….great colours and mix and with some bread…..I would go to bed, quite happily!!!!!!!!! And agree with you – there’s NO need for the bean sprouts!!!!!!

    Reply
  2. Meeta says

    January 19, 2010 at 8:38 pm

    i am glad that the feasting and fattening time is over. i love simple vegetable dishes like this – vegetables, spiced in perfect harmony and a bowl of couscous. just my kind of comfort food!

    Reply
  3. Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

    January 19, 2010 at 8:54 pm

    That looks very tasty. I love roast squash and aubergine.

    Reply
  4. Kerri says

    January 19, 2010 at 9:29 pm

    Roasted vegetables are so reminiscent of Summer to me that I don’t think to cook them in Winter, I can see how the spicing would make this a perfect dish for these cold evenings now that you’ve suggested it though.

    Reply
  5. Manggy says

    January 19, 2010 at 9:43 pm

    I love it when a spice mix has many more uses than the recipe it’s for. I’ve almost been tempted to scale down to imaginary fractions of teaspoons just so I don’t waste anything 🙂 This is a great combination of veg, I love it!

    Reply
  6. Mowie @ Mowielicious says

    January 19, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    I love, love, love roasted veggies. Yum. Jamie Oliver once suggested Moroccan spices for them and I tried it and never roasted without them. Divine.

    Reply
  7. Soma says

    January 20, 2010 at 12:04 am

    This sounds very very beautiful and colorful and flavorful. Well I love it!

    Reply
  8. bellini valli says

    January 20, 2010 at 12:10 am

    These are so colourful as well as tasty when roasted Jeanne. I’d eat pizza with you and bring on the wine…or tequila.

    Reply
  9. Kevin says

    January 20, 2010 at 2:52 am

    What a coincidence! I just threw some Moroccan spiced brussels sprouts into the oven to roast. The Moroccan spice blend is amazingly aromatic.

    Reply
  10. Kalynskitchen says

    January 20, 2010 at 5:03 am

    Oh yes indeed, this looks quite yummy! (And I see that January deprivation syndrome is flourishing all over the world. I have to admit, I’ve been dieting a bit myself due to an overabundance of Christmas celebrating this year!)

    Reply
  11. giz says

    January 20, 2010 at 7:24 am

    Making my own spice mixes is on high priority these days – ahhh yes, I’m one of those restrictions you love so well (low sodium) add to index please. I’m definitely making this spice mix and I can almost taste the roasted veggies with a kicky spice on them.

    Reply
  12. nina says

    January 20, 2010 at 8:20 am

    End of last year Mint&Tea Tagine sent me a box full of Moroccan spices and I have such pleasure using it for all kinds of recipes…Surprisingly enough I have not yet roasted veggies with this spice mix, so this is going to be on the menu very very soon!!!

    Reply
  13. Gourmet Chick says

    January 20, 2010 at 9:47 am

    After a visit to Morocco last year I am obsessed with all food Moroccan so this looks like the perfect recipe for me

    Reply
  14. Bethany says

    January 20, 2010 at 10:06 am

    `i’ll totally share a bottle of wine with you and totally hit up a pizza joint and the steak house one after the other! I have no self-control! This looks lovely and I just love veggies purely because they are in fact delicious especially with protein to the side.

    Reply
  15. diva says

    January 20, 2010 at 4:19 pm

    oh i feel the same way, so many diet restrictions now that the holiday’s over and it seems i’m the only one still eating. Sometimes i wonder, am i not supposed to eat then like the others?! Blimey. But this is one nice healthy dish – not that I really care. I’m here in my London apartments gorging on Japanese confectionary and wondering if Saffronberry will chuck her 1kg of chocolate my way. I’m incorrigible. Thanks for the recipe! i actually really need this because i’ve always resorted to buying this from supermarkets. Yum ym moroccan spiced anything. x

    Reply
  16. Sophie says

    January 20, 2010 at 7:27 pm

    MMMMMMM,….lovely!

    Reply
  17. Juliana says

    January 20, 2010 at 9:16 pm

    Oh! What a great dish…love the mixture of the spices in it…sure sound and looks very tasty 🙂

    Reply
  18. dinnerware | Elizeth says

    January 21, 2010 at 8:13 pm

    Definitely checking that recipe out! Was in Morocco in ’01, and need to try to replicate some of the great things I tasted.
    Oh, and I’m NOT laying off the wine this month, so give me a shout! 🙂

    Reply
  19. tasteofbeirut says

    January 22, 2010 at 4:04 pm

    That was so funny! (talking about your friends trying to “be good”-how futile anyway!). You are so right, roasting veggies is a no-brainer when it comes to eating good stuff, easy to fix!

    Reply
  20. Sherry says

    January 23, 2010 at 12:44 am

    Yummmy and very pretty veggies! I want some now.

    Reply
  21. Jeanne @ Cooksister says

    January 25, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    Kitchen Butterfly – glad we agree on the sprouts. hardly the weather for it! This dish is far more comforting, and still healthy!
    Meeta – then this is the perfect dish for you! I have to admit that it is good to get back to eating “normal” meals!
    Sarah – the best thing is that you can use any vegetables you like – chunks of red pepper would have been good too…
    Kerri – I, on the other hand, never think to roast vegetables in the summer 😉 Clearly, we both need to move more towards the centre of the spectrum!
    Mark – yes, usually I downscale quantities too, but with this divine spice mix, there is no chance of any of it going to waste!
    Mowie – well there you have it: Jamie and I can’t both be wrong 😉
    Soma – and the best thing is that you can make it as colourful as you like and use up everything in your vegetable drawer!
    Val – that’s definitely the mark of a true friend… 🙂
    Kevin – now there’s a thought…!
    Kalyn – yes, but your “diet” recipes are so tasty nobody will notice that you are dieting!
    Giz – oopos, yes I am the salt queen I’m afraid. But with spices like this you can actually make do with a lot less sodium!
    Nina – lucky lady to get a parcel from the lovely Wendy! This mix should make you feel as if you are right there with her in the bazaar.
    Gourmet Chick – yes, I rememebr your Moroccan posts well! You should love these veggies then…
    Beth – aaaah, a true friend! And a soulmate with no self-control (and a weakness for props!)
    Diva – your Japanese pastry binge has made for fascinating reading 🙂 This is the perfect antidote!
    Sophie & Juliana – glad you liked it!
    Elizeth – great, our army of non-abstainers grows by the day… 🙂
    Taste of Beirut – yup, roasting veggies is just the best (and yes, virtue is futile!)
    Sherry – thanks!

    Reply
  22. Paz says

    February 3, 2010 at 9:21 pm

    Oh, I really love this idea of the roasted vegetables. Yum!
    Paz

    Reply
  23. Spice Rack says

    May 30, 2010 at 8:43 am

    Great recipe! It’s mouth watering and tempting to eat. It’s mixed of festive Moroccan spices packed with special herbs.

    Reply
  24. Lisa says

    May 3, 2012 at 8:34 pm

    This is all very well but has anyone actually tried out this recipe?? If so, how was it?

    Reply
  25. Den says

    October 17, 2013 at 7:30 am

    Cooked this last night, added different veggies but used all the spices, had it with the left overs of Quinoa & Beetroot + Garlic yogurt (but added Cauliflower rice to Quinoa) & it was fantastic.
    Tip, when cooking Quinoa use stock instead of water.

    Reply
  26. Jason Galletti says

    December 23, 2014 at 10:45 am

    I love Moroccan spices vegetables it is one of my most favorite foods to cook and eat.

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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