This warm salad is a nice nutritious main meal that, in my opinion, does not need anything else, but for meat lovers, it can also be served as a side next to meat or fish. I occasionally do eat fish and meat, but I never add it to this salad myself. The carrots, avocado, and seeds are filling as they are. The dish is approved by omnivores, and even my boyfriend who never likes vegetables (and weirdly enough is a vegetarian) is always happy to eat two portions of this one.
The creaminess of the avocado, crunchiness of toasted seeds, and earthiness of carrots combined is a perfect plateful for a little chillier summer night. Like many of my recipes, this salad uses a ton of coriander. If you are one of those who don’t like it, feel free to substitute for arugula. But if you have only tasted coriander for a few times, I recommend to give it another go as it is one of those flavors that needs a little getting used to. I remember when it wasn’t my favorite, and today I add it to almost every recipe!
If you can find them, this recipe benefits from using multicolored carrots – purple, white, orange… Unfortunately, I only have regular orange carrots in my garden this year, so my salad does not look as exciting as it could look, but it still tastes fantastic!
I have used a little feta cheese because the tanginess is beautiful here, but if you prefer the vegan option, just omit it.
Warm Avocado and Carrot Salad
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
2 pounds carrots (in different colors, if possible)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 + 2 tbsp olive oil
Dried chili flakes, to taste
1 tsp coconut sugar
½ orange
½ lemon
Mixed seeds (I used poppy seeds and sunflower seeds this time)
2 ripe avocados
A handful of coriander (or substitute for arugula)
Some feta to sprinkle on top
Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 390 F and bring a large pot with water to boil.
Scrub the carrots and peel, if you feel like it (I usually do not peel fresh carrots). Cut the larger ones lengthways to halves or quarters, leave the smaller ones whole.
Cook the carrots in boiling water for 10 minutes, then drain and let them steam dry.
At the same time, crush the spices with mortar and pestle, then add the vinegar and 2 tbsp of olive oil and mix to a homogenous paste.
Mix hot carrots with the paste and cook them for 25 minutes in the oven until they are softened and crisped up a little. Add the halved citrus fruit to the pan too.
As long as your carrots and citrus are baking, toast the seeds on a dry pan. Peel and cut the avocado.
Once the carrots are done, carefully squeeze the juice out of the orange and lemon to a big bowl, add the rest of the olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
Place the carrots to the same big bowl, add avocado, seeds, and a handful of coriander – carefully mix again.
Serve warm, and if you want to, crumble some feta cheese on top.
By Kadri Raig
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She does love to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and don’t take more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks that everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home, it is just a question of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week and write a blog. So if I manage to cook most of my meals, then so do you!" Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website here: www.kahvliga.ee.