This salad is fresh, crisp, full of lively aromatics and yet takes barely 5 minutes to put together. Its cooling nature works well with hot, oily dishes such as pulled pork or chicken curry, with lighter but still warm ones (spiced bream, for example), or as part of a cold buffet with, say, a quiche or puff pastry tart. The texture is best if you make it using a julienne peeler, a mandolin with a julienne setting or a spiraliser; there’s just something about those long, thin strips. But a box grater does a decent job too.
Ingredients
- 600 g carrots
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- Leaves from 7 stems coriander
- 3 cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 1 heaped teaspoon nigella seeds
- 3 tablespoons cold-pressed rapeseed oil
- ½ finely grated lemon juice and zest
- Sea salt
How to Make It
- Use a julienne peeler or mandolin attachment to make a mass of carrot strips, or a box grater or spiraliser for a similar effect.
- Put the cumin seeds in a heavy-bottomed saucepan or frying pan over a medium heat. Toast lightly for 4–5 minutes until the seeds are fragrant. Remove them before they brown and become bitter, and tip immediately into a pestle and mortar. Add a good pinch of salt and very lightly crush the seeds.
- Combine the carrots, coriander leaves, ginger, nigella and cumin seeds, oil and lemon zest and juice in a large bowl, plus a pinch or two of salt. Toss well and let the flavours mingle for at least 5 minutes, or up to 3 hours before serving.
