Moroccan olive salad

(GF, V)

My mom was the most hard-working person I have ever known. Every morning she would get up at 5 am, and by 7 am she had already made breakfast, got started on lunch.
She would then look at the big clock in the dining room and exclaim: “Wa’aliya! (which means in Moroccan “darn”) It’s already 7 in the morning. Half of the day is gone already”.

My mom made EVERYTHING from scratch: wine, jams, pasta, ketchup, mayo, ice cream and breads. She pickled olives by herself.

On the balcony we had medium-sized containers that looked like barrels where my mom stored the olives. When the olives were ready to eat, my mom cooked them in many ways. This salad was one of them.

Ingredients

• 1 can pitted green olives 

• 3 garlic cloves, chopped

• 1 red bell pepper, diced

• 3 tbsp oil

• 3 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 tbsp paprika

• 1 tbsp.  salt

• 1 tsp. cumin

• 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped

•  1 tbsp. Lemon pulp, chopped

• 2  tbsp lemon juice

Directions

1. Drain the olives and soak in hot water. Repeat twice. 

2. Sauté the pepper in oil for 5 minutes, add the garlic, the tomato paste and the spices. Cook for 5 more minutes.

3.  Add the olives, 2 tbsp water and the rest of the ingredients. Cook for 5 more minutes.