Peanuts & carrots

I knew that the adventurous chef Paz has good taste re: carrot dishes - after all, she really liked my recipe for rosemary & orange marinated carrots in August 2005 :) So when Paz - who had found the recipe on Valentina's blog - recently posted Nigella Lawson's recipe for The Rainbow Room’s Carrot and Peanut Salad, and praised it, I knew I had to try it, too. It's healthy. It's simple. It's delicious. And it's crunchy. What else do you need?!

Note that I adapted the recipe a little. I had picked up a tip from Harumi Kurihara's lovely book Harumi's Japanese Cooking (Conran Octopus, 2004) for preparing carrots for salads. In her recipe for Carrot & Tuna Salad she suggests that carrots be lightly cooked in a microwave, which leaves the carrots still very crispy and tasty. I agree, and suggest you do the same.

And maybe Paz and I should establish a mutual carrot recipe appreciation society :)

A crunchy salad of carrots & peanuts
(Porgandi-maapähklisalat)
Serves 4 as a side dish



4 medium organic carrots
75g salted peanuts
2 Tbsp groundnut or olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Few drops sesame oil

Peel the carrots and cut them into 5-6 mm julienne sticks. Put them into a glass bowl, add the oil, cover and microwave for 90 seconds (600 W) .
Drizzle with wine vinegar and sesame oil, mix well.

Serve either hot or cold.

I highly recommended you try this dish, as the sweet carrots and salty peanuts complement each other well, and the texture of the salad is really lovely - crunchy, but still gentle to your teeth. I might add some chopped parsley next time as well. And there definitely will be next time.