Thursday, June 01, 2006

New favorite veggie side dish...

When we have a heavy main dish planned, I often like to include a lighter side to try and balance it a bit. I've been looking for a new carrot based side and I think I found the one I will use for sometime! Jeff was a little nervous when he saw it had raisins though...

Grated Carrots with Cumin-Orange Dressing has 7 simple and common ingredients that combine to make a refreshing and a little sweet side dish. As I have a food processor, I went ahead and grated my own carrots - but if you don't have one and want to speed things along, feel free to buy the pre-shredded ones. The dressing is a mixture of fresh squeezed orange and lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Toasting the ground cumin before hand brings the spice back to life and adds a slight smokiness. Golden raisins add another layer of sweetness and a different texture admist the crisp carrot strips. To my surprise, after no more than 3 bites, Jeff was quick to ask and make sure he could have the leftovers as a part of his lunch tomorrow! This will definitely be made many more times here.

7 comments:

  1. These flavors are right up my alley and it looks gorgeous too. I've never tried toasting ground cumin; I can't wait to see how it reacts. Thanks for the post.

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  2. you know what ? yesterday I made an all bunch of carrot -cumin - orange muffins . they were delicious. you recipe sounds great too ...

    bye ;)

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  3. Yum! How very French!

    (I have a similar recipe somewhere that uses pineapple juice and ginger...)

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  4. Aside from my little golden nemesis, it sounds delicious! I had a friend make ginger lime carrots once and they were so refreshing.

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  5. Acme - Definitely play around with toasting cumin - I love the additional flavor it brings out.

    Sab - Carrot Cumin Orange Muffins? Do tell!

    J.bo - Thanks! Where can I find that recipe!

    Mebeth - hee hee.. you raisin hater!

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  6. my god, they used to serve this (minus the cumin) in my college dorm (UT austin)! thanks for the memories...lol!

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  7. I made this last night and added a pinch of cinnamon; it was also delish!

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