A simple raw carrot salad is taken to another level with flavours of Morocco: toasted nuts, seeds and fragranced with fresh ginger, mint, orange and cumin. Made in just under 30 minutes, it's a healthy boost for the changing seasons and great for your light lunches, appetizers/starters or picnics.
French Carrot Salad Makeover
Confession: I find the typical French carrot salad dull. It's sold everywhere in France - often overly bright and preservative-laden, sitting grated in plastic containers on supermarket shelves. My kids were oversaturated with it at school; so to enjoy a healthy carrot salad at home, it needed excitement.
I combined my childhood carrots (raisins, peanuts) with Moroccan flavours (mint, cumin, ginger, orange), which I discovered on family holidays. Just back from our trip to Essaouira (formerly Mogador, a UNESCO World Heritage site), I couldn't resist making this again for you.
With mild spices, toasted seeds and nuts and an orange and tahini dressing, it's a family favourite. Who knows? It may just have your taste buds doing a belly dance!
Raw Carrot Salad - Health Benefits
This raw carrot salad is loaded with flavour plus has tons of health benefits. By grating in black radish (that's white inside), it adds an extra boost to your immune system during changing seasons.
All ingredients have interesting healthy properties and are a great source of fibre, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory. (Source: 'La Meilleure façon de Manger' by nutritionists Thierry Souccar and Angélique Houlbert).
- Carrots: best eaten raw to appreciate their high carotene and vitamin A.
- Black Radish: rich in potassium, vitamin B9 and C, fibre and a diuretic with anti-cancerous properties.
- Orange: full of polyphenols, antioxidants and vitamin C.
- Ginger: anti-inflammatory and antioxidant - helps digestion, bloating and nausea.
- Mint: anti-inflammatory.
- Peanuts: If looking for more protein, peanuts are great and about the same calories as almonds. Rich in phosphorous and vitamin B3.
- Almonds: are richer in calcium, fibre, magnesium, potassium and vitamin E.
- Pumpkin seeds: high in iron (red blood cell production).
- Sesame seeds and paste: rich in monounsaturated fat, which can help lower cholesterol. Good source of calcium and zinc (bone health), magnesium and iron.
- Rapeseed/canola oil: used cold, it's cheap, mainly has monounsaturated fat and loaded with omega 3. As a result, once opened, keep it in the fridge to keep these healthy properties.
Not only is it part of healthy diet of Mediterranean food but, if you need to follow a low histamine diet, remove the orange and replace the nuts with pistachios.
How to Make a Healthy Carrot Salad with Herbs
The hardest part is grating the carrots and radish! If you have a food processor shredder, then it's a quicker doddle. Allow about 2-3 carrots per serving, depending on their size.
Toast nuts and seeds without any oil in a pan for 2-3 minutes, shred the carrots and radish and make the dressing. Toss the whole lot around with plenty of chopped fresh mint and voilà. If you don't have mint, use fresh coriander/cilantro but the mint really makes it all pop. Just try it in this surprising Corsican mint omelette!
Choose firm, heavy and dark fruit/veg. For more, see their relative links to the market guide pages on carrots, radishes, oranges and fresh herbs.
Knock, Knock - Cumin!
I couldn't resist this Robin Williams' joke. Every time I hear the spicy word, cumin, I can't stop thinking of it! So not only is this carrot salad healthy, it's providing a good few portions of your daily fruit and vegetables. For more carrots, try this carrot soup (soupe de Crécy) with rice.
Ideas on How to Serve Carrot Salad
Serve carrot salad as part of a healthy dinner - or also great for picnics.
- Serve with poichichade, the Provençal answer to hummous.
- As a side with roasted fresh sardines or with tinned sardines on bread or toast.
- The orange combination works wonders with pan-fried mackerel with Mustard.
- Also great topped with cooked, peeled prawns
- Serve as an appetizer (starter or French entrée) before a chicken tagine with prunes, and you have a Moroccan themed dinner.
Carrot Salad (Moroccan Style)
Equipment
- hand grater or food processor shredder attachment
Ingredients
- 300 g (10½ oz) carrots peeled, grated
- 200 g (1 small) black radish peeled, grated
- 2 tablespoon fresh ginger finely grated
- 50 g (2 oz) peanuts whole almonds or pistachios (unsalted, no added oil)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds toasted (see Notes)
- 15 g (1 tbsp) sesame seeds toasted
- 30 g (2 tbsp) pumpkin seeds toasted
- 2 tablespoon fresh mint leaves finely chopped
Carrot Salad Dressing
- 50 ml (2 fl oz/3 tbsp) canola/rapeseed oil (Colza in France)
- 1 small orange, squeezed juice only (or from 2 clementines)
- 2 teaspoon sesame seed paste (Tahini)
- 2 tablespoon rice vinegar or cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon fleur de sel and ground black pepper
Instructions
- Grate the carrots, radish and ginger into a large salad bowl.
- Toast the nuts and seeds in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat without any oil. Toast for 2-3 minutes or until toasted enough to your liking (although optional, this brings out their best flavour.)
- Prepare the dressing by mixing all the ingredients together - either in a bowl or in a clean jam jar. Toss into the carrot salad mixture, adding the nuts, seeds and chopped fresh mint and adjust the salt and milled black pepper to your taste.
Cathy A
I can't wait to try this, as it was one of my favorites while traveling in Morocco. I love any excuse to use black radishes.
Jill Colonna
Isn't an exhilarating experience travelling there, Cathy? Agree - we love black radishes and incorporating them in salads. So good for you!