Tunisian Carrot Salad

My dear Auntie Gloria -- one of the best cooks ever -- taught me how to assemble plates with a little bit of this and a tiny bit of that, all leftover from a day or a few days before. Add a sandwich or a bowl of soup and wow, it's like a smorgie (you know, a smorgasbord) on a plate.

So starting about this time in spring, the fridge becomes home to two or three cold salads at a time. I'm always looking for new ideas for quick-prep and healthful salads.

This particular carrot-spice salad didn't work for me on Day One. It did improve considerably by sitting overnight. Chef-Girl.net, who inspired the concoction, thinks resting helps, too, "It has a really nice flavour to it once it’s sat for a little while."

KITCHEN NOTES ... Think about ... using lemon juice vs orange juice ... and skipping the dill seed entirely since it didn't soften and seemed off, somehow, combined with coriander and chili powder.

FOR the RECORD ... This is my contribution to ARF Tuesdays, the healthful gathering of recipes from all over the world over at Sweetnicks.

FROM THE ARCHIVES ... For other ideas for veggie salads, see the vegetable salads section in the Recipe Box.

TUNISIAN CARROT SALAD
Bookmark or print Tunisian Carrot Salad
Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 10 minutes
Serves 4


DRESSING
1/4 cup orange juice (this seemed to add sweetness vs brightness, a better choice might be the more acidic lemon juice)
1 tablespoon olive oil (reduced from 1 tablespoon)
1 teaspoon ground coriander (dropped from 2 teaspoons, only because I ran out)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (dropped from 1 teaspoon, to keep spices in relative balance)
1 teaspoon dill seed (dropped from 2 teaspoons, to keep spices in relative balance)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

CARROT MIXTURE
1 pound carrots, grated
1/4 cup currants (substituting for 1/2 cup raisins)

In a medium bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients. Stir in the carrots and currants. Let rest for 30 minutes before serving.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Serving: 112 Cal (29% from Fat, 6% from Protein, 65% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 4 g Tot Fat; 1 g Sat Fat; 20 g Carb; 4 g Fiber; NetCarb 16; 58 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 378 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 2 points


(c) Copyright 2006 Kitchen Parade
Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 08, 2006

    Great idea to keep a constant few veggie salads in the fridge. Saves on dinner/lunch time and it's so easy to not go to the trouble. I love that you said that particularly because at a friend's house the other night she served a pea salad my mother made when I was growing up, that simple salad with the hard boiled eggs, onions, bacon, etc? I thought "Why don't I make this kind of thing more often. I could make it healthy if I put my mind to it."

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  2. AnonymousMay 09, 2006

    I like the ingredients in the dressing. I grew up eating carrot salad, but was never fond of it because it was so plain. But the coriander and the chili powder would make it taste so much better.

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  3. AnonymousMay 09, 2006

    Sounds lovely and savoury! Thanks for the kitchen tips; it's always nice to know how a recipe can be improved upon.

    Carrots that need "using up" lend themselves to all kinds of wonderful things. One Christmas while in grad school, I had to empty my fridge before going home for the holidays, so I threw together a carrot salad that, based on the ingredients (ie. other things that needed using up), sounded hideous, but was really quite wonderful. I called it Revolting Carrot Salad, although I ended up making it again and again, even when the fridge didn't need cleaning out! Yay for carrots!

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  4. YUM!! that I will love. Thanks for coming over to my blog so now I can find all your yummy recipes.

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  5. AnonymousMay 17, 2006

    That's a good recipe for tucking away. :-)

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna