Rebecca’s Recipe of the Week: A South Indian Carrot Salad | Canalside Community Food

Carrot and Cashew Salad
Serves about 1 if that 1 person is me.  It’s supposed to serve 4.

Ingredients
200g carrots
salt, to taste
some fresh coconut—the amount is very flexible and the coconut can be omitted altogether.  Try a quarter of a whole coconut, or about half of one of those little pots of pre-chopped coconut you can get in the supermarket.
2 tablespoons vegetable or coconut oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 inch of fresh ginger (optional), peeled and grated
10 curry leaves
1 big handful of cashew nuts, roughly chopped
1 big handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
juice of half a lemon

Preparation
Peel the carrots and shred them coarsely.  Put them in a nice bowl and toss them with some salt.  Try about a quarter teaspoon to begin with.
If you are using the coconut, you need to prepare it.  Extract the coconut from the shell, if necessary, or open the small plastic packet you bought in the shop.  Peel off the dark brown inner husk, and either grate the coconut into your bowl on the same coarse grater you used for the carrots, or peel it into thin strips using a vegetable peeler, or just chop it into little chunks. In any case, mix it in with the carrots.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat.  When it is hot add the mustard seeds.  They will start to pop, and shoot out all over the top of your cooker.  At that point add the grated ginger (if you’re using it) and stir for a minute. Then add the curry leaves, stir for a few seconds until the curry leaves frizzle up a little. Turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the burner. Add the cashews and stir them a little, so that the cashews start to colour a little in the still-warm pan. Pour the whole thing over the carrots and toss vigorously.
Mix in the chopped coriander. Squeeze the lemon juice over the salad, and toss it all together.  See if you need more salt, or more lemon juice. This makes a very agreeable lunch.

(Recipe adapted from Anna Jones.)