Spicy Carrot Salad 1
Gajar ka Chatpata Salad 1
Mitun Gupta
This simple carrot salad with a hint of spice, is great with Indian or non-Indian meals. Serve it with barbecue or take it for picnics. You can change the seasoning and dressing to get a different flavour/taste each time. All amounts are approximate, change to suit your taste. You can make this salad with any root vegetable that can be eaten raw.
Serves 5-6.
Ingredients
5-6 medium sized carrots
2-3 green chilli (adjust to taste and the heat of the chilli variety you are using)
2 inch piece of ginger
2 handfuls or a bunch of fresh coriander leaves
Optional
1/2 cup roasted peanuts or chopped walnuts,
1/2 cup raisins/sultanas or chopped dry apricots
Dressing
Juice of 1 large lemon (adjust to taste)
1 tsp. roasted cumin seeds, coarsely ground (you can add Chat Masala instead.
Salt to taste (use Maldon or rock salt or kala namak)
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Soak sultanas/raisins/chopped apricots in warm water.
Top and tail and peel carrots. Grate them either by hand or in a food processor, taking seconds.
Squeeze out juice to remove excessive moisture. You can collect this juice in a bowl, to be used elsewhere.
Clean, de-stalk and chop coriander leaves finely.
Peel and chop/slice ginger finely.
De-stalk and chop green chillies finely.
Place carrots in a bowl, add everything else, except dressing ingredients, on top and mix.
Place all dressing ingredients in a small jar and mix.
Pour over the salad and mix. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve chilled.
You can make it a day in advance but if you do, add lemon and salt just before serving. Experiment with other vinaigrettes or add a little roast cumin and chilli flakes (especially Schzuan chillies).
