More Springtime Salads (Somewhat Random)
28 April 2009
Picking up last week’s topic about springtime salads, here is another recipe worth mentioning. Though this one is a somewhat more spontaneous creation of mine, resulting from a slight lack of overview in our fridge. Actually I was planning to make a more conventional mixture of carrots and cucumber. But when I went about preparing the ingredients, I realized that unfortunately the cucumbers had gone bad; they were all mushy and ugly. So as much as I hate wasting produce, I had no choice but to dispose of them immediately.
Instead, I found a wonderfully ripe avocado in the depth of the vegetable drawer – so why not use this to combine with the carrots? Once I had started with this not-so-commonplace mixture, I got into it and decided to spice it up with an equally inventive dressing. It was mainly a combination of olive oil, dark sesame oil, sushi vinegar and mild curry. So neither entirely Western nor really Japanese - just another addition to my "personal fusion".
Carrot and Avocado Salad
| about 4 servings |
| 3 large or 4 mid-sized carrots |
| 2 very ripe avocados
(if it’s rather big, just 1 will do) |
| a hand full of shelled walnuts |
| olive oil |
| dark sesame oil |
| Japanese rice vinegar |
| some garlic powder |
| 1-2 teaspoons mild curry powder |
| salt and freshly ground pepper |
Peel the carrots and grate them finely. Peel the avocado, remove the pit, and chop the flesh into small bits; if the avocado is so ripe it gets almost mashed upon cutting it into pieces, all the better!
Combine the carrots and the avocado and dress with roughly equal parts of olive oil, dark sesame oil and Japanese rice vinegear (amount of sauce to your liking – I prefer it very juicy and creamy, but that’s really a matter of personal taste). Add some garlic powder as well as some mild curry powder and mix well. Season to taste with salt and some freshly ground black pepper.
Crush the walnuts into fairly small pieces and add them to the salad just shortly before serving. (There’s a chance the nuts may get bitter if they are left in the salad for too long - can't tell you about the scientific reasons for this, but that’s how I learned it from my mum, so I'm sure there's something to it!)
| Suggestions to Combine |
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