Carrot and Coconut Salad

Good morning,

Recently, I wanted to make a salad. Simple you might think as did I. But it is amazing how just sometimes ingredients one would think would go together just don’t make the best dish.

Frist Attempt. In the food processor I finely chopped 250g carrots then when in a bowl added 50g desicated cocnut, covered the bowl and left it to meld.

This turned out to have an over riding taste of extremely dry coconut. I like a dry salad but this was not working.

So it was back to the drawing board as they say or in this case back to the kitchen counter.

Second Attempt: 250 g of carrot which I grated and which also gave a little liquid. 1/2 red chilli pepper deseeded and copped very finely. I mixed this together then added 35g desicated coconut. Then I added the juice of half a satusuma and the zest. Finally the bowl was covered and allowed to rest in the firdge. This was so much better. Added a sprig of parsely for decoaration just before serving. Not too wet and the coconut just added another texture rather than over powering the taste.

However, it still lacked something.

Third Attempt: 250 grated carrot, 30g desicated coconut, 1/2 green chilli (only because I didn’t have a red chilli), chopped finely, juice of half a lemon, a few twists of the pepper mill, pich of salt, pinch of dried roesmary and finally a sprinkling of fennel seeds. The bowl was covered and left in the fridge again for a few hours.

Verdict: At last I had a combination which really worked. I am sure you could add mayonaise instead of the lemon juice or a plain yoghurt if you like a creamier texture. But as I am not a lover of mayonaise I will stick with the third attempt.Just thinking I may try this with slivers of fresh coconut mmmm

Enjoy your cooking until the next time.