Moroccan Chickpea Barley Salad

Please welcome Hank Shaw, who made this Moroccan-inspired chickpea salad for us the other day. It was outstanding! ~Elise

I’ve always been a huge fan of North African food, and Moroccan food in particular. Moroccan culture is an old culture, and the spice combinations and juxtaposition of sweet and savory are not much changed from a thousand years ago, when these flavors dominated both Europe and the Arab world.

Everything in this salad could have come from Morocco, and the barley is something of a Berber touch: Barley is a mainstay of Berber cooking.

I have no idea whether anything like this salad exists in Morocco, so let’s say it is Moroccan-inspired rather than an attempt at anything authentic.

Most of the ingredients for this dish are easily obtainable, with the exception of the ras el hanout. Frankly, the salad is great without it, but the addition of this beguiling spice mixture does add another layer of flavor.

What is ras el hanout? It is the masala of Morocco. Every person who makes ras el hanout makes it differently. Generally speaking it should include black pepper, cardamom, chile peppers, nutmeg, mace, allspice, ginger, fennel seed, cinnamon, cloves, turmeric— well as more unusual stuff, such as lavender or dried rose petals.

I include a rough approximation of ras el hanout in the ingredients, should you be unable to find it in a store.

You can vary a few things in this salad and still have it come out well: Substitute pine nuts for the pistachios, or chopped dates for the chopped apricots.

You could even switch out the barley altogether and use something like spelt or farro. But definitely try this recipe as written first: You’ve probably never tasted anything like it.

Moroccan Chickpea Barley Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups barley
• 1 1/2 cups chicken or veggie broth
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Olive oil
• 1 15-ounce can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and strained
• 1 cup shelled pistachio nuts
• 1 cup diced dried apricots
• 2-3 chopped green onions or scallions
• 1 cup chopped parsley
• Zest and juice of a lemon
• 1 Tbsp of ras el hanout spice mix*
• Salt to taste

*Ras El Hanout Spice Mix:

• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

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