If you’re looking for fast, fresh and flexible, our GRATED CARROT SALAD is for you!
This easy-to-prepare salad is both 100% vegan and gluten-free. Yup, so for all you gluten-free folks, vegans and people who just love delicious salads, this fresh vegetable salad is for you. And we just gotta say, this salad comes highly recommended. It consistently ranks as one of our top three salads of all time. Quick, easy, healthy and popular? That’s our kind salad!
Before running through a few tips and suggestions on how to make it, how about some additional recommendations for salads equally worthy of your attention? First, this AVOCADO, CUCUMBER AND FETA SALAD with lemon and dill — LOVE! Then, this ENDIVE SALAD with nuts and radicchio is mighty tasty. Lastly, here’s a bonus: just peruse this roundup of over 32 SALAD RECIPES. Whether you’re looking for a simple side, a tasty lunch idea or a complete meal, this list has it all.
Now, back to our famous GRATED CARROT SALAD:
INGREDIENTS
Check out that photo of the ingredients you’ll need. Told you this is simple. About a pound of carrots, a small onion, some seasoning, fresh herbs, oil and vinegar? That’s it. We’re hoping you have the seasoning, olive oil and apple cider vinegar in your pantry. Then, just grab some carrots, the onion and fresh herbs at your local grocery store.
GRATED CARROTS
Part of the simplicity of this recipe goes to process. Although you can use a box grater, we suggest grating the carrots with a food processor. Yes, you’ll need to lug the machine out of your cabinet but the end result is worth it. By using a blade with smaller holes, you’ll end up with thinner, shreds that resemble shoestrings. This yields a fine slaw that better soaks up the other ingredients.
WHITE ONION
Here’s another important step to ensure complete success and enjoyment of this fresh carrot salad: soak your onion slices it in a small bowl of cold water. Then, we drain it and blot it on paper towel. This technique draws the pungency from the onion, leaving it with more sweetness and less overpowering, punchy flavours. One thing to mention, in the ingredients list, I list a white onion, which is what I used to produce this story. Yellow onions, Spanish onions and even Vidalia onions will work too.
DRESSING
Much of the brilliance of this salad goes to that perfect balance of flavour and presentation. I love the fresh flavour combination of the carrot with what I’m referring to as “the dressing”. In essence, we zip up the soaked onion with the extra-virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, kosher salt and pepper, and cumin. Better come clean, the ground cumin is what makes this salad so memorable. This deeply flavoured, aromatic spice delivers subtle hints of lemon-like citrus with nutty undertones. If you decide to add more than the ¼ teaspoon called for in this recipe, we won’t blame you.
BIG BOWL
When you watch the VIDEO created to accompany this post, you’ll notice we dirty both the large and small canisters of our food processor. Oh well. But then, we give you a break by tossing the entire salad up in one big bowl. Might seem like too many steps, but we’re still going to refer to his GRATED CARROT SALAD as a one-bowl wonder. You can make the salad in advance if you’re ever pressed for time, just make sure you toss it before storing it in the fridge. It will taste better when the flavours meld and mature.
FRESH HERBS
Sorry to my dear cousin Linda of OMA’S APPLE CAKE fame, but this salad contains cilantro. Though Linda dislikes the flavour of freshly chopped cilantro, sometimes referred to as coriander, I’m hoping adding fresh parsley into the mix counters any dislike. Add these fresh green herbs in with the carrots, onion and cumin deliver deliciousness. You’ll see as soon as you take your first bite. Oh, and another thing, this raw carrot salad does not contain raisins, pineapple, pistachios or any other nuts. We’ll leave them out for another time.
TOSS AND SERVE
As mentioned above, we do like it when this carrot salad recipe has a bit of time for the flavours to blend. That said, waiting reduces the crunch and texture of the grated carrots. So what to do? We say, toss, serve and enjoy, but fingers crossed for leftovers. This salad, the next da,y is equally as good, if not better.
Only way to find out is to make the salad right away. We know you’ll love it as much as we do. It makes the perfect side when served with our ROASTED CHICKEN, this SWEET & SPICY ASIAN SALMON and our OVEN-ROASTED PORK TENDERLOIN dishes. It’s also wonderful when used almost like a condiment. Take a fork and plop some onto the top favourite sandwich or take it to a picnic – sublime!
Enjoy our healthy and delicious GRATED CARROT SALAD with best regards. Yum!
Until Cottage Season
