Indian Carrot Salad (A Quick and Easy Indian Taste)

I will be sharing today a very easy Indian style Carrot Salad recipe.  This salad is healthy, refreshing and sweet with slight taste of Indian spices.  

It's a wonderful accompaniment for kebab, grilled or fried meat and of course for Indian dishes like tandoori or curry.  Whenever I'm lazy to make Indian food and my taste buds are asking for Indian spices, this salad is the answer. It gives an instant Indian flavor to your meal.

I am using 2 Indian spices for this salad, the cumin and garam masala

It is important to grind the cumin if you don't like eating whole pieces of it.  Or you may also use ground cumin.  In some market or Asian shop, there is ground cumin.

cumin

Garam masala is a mixture of ground Indian spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, peppercorn, bay leaves, cumin, etc

garam masala

The carrots & onions are the main vegetables while the fresh coriander gives the herb Asian flavor.

Indian Carrot Salad Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups of carrot ribbons
1 onion, sliced thinly
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp oil to saute onion
1 tsp oil for dressing
2 tbsp coriander, sliced into small pieces
1/2 tsp salt or depending on your taste.
2 tsp lemon juice or depending on your taste

Directions

1.  Cut the vegetables accordingly.  

Use peeler to make the carrot ribbons.  Thinly slice the onion.

Chop the coriander.  You may cut it in smaller pieces like garnish

3.  Heat the pan and once hot put the cumin and roast for about 30 seconds to wake up the flavor.  The cumin will start to have nutty and nice aromatic smell.

4.  Grind the cumin using mortar and pestel.

5.  Heat the oil in the pan then saute the onion.  Once onion is almost cooked, add the cumin and garam masala.  Combine together until onion is cooked.  

The sauted onion & spices will give the wonderful Indian flavor to the salad.

6.  Put the carrots, sauted onion & spices in a bowl.  Add some coriander. 

7.  Toss the salad, taste and season with salt, lemon and oil.  It is recommended to use your hand when tossing the salad and massage it a little bit to bring out more sweetness from the carrots.

Upgrade your salad

If you want to add more sweetness to the salad put some slices of apples.  You may also sprinkle some nuts for more crunchy texture.

Short video of making the salad.