I was looking for a different carrot salad and bumped across a moroccan type recipe online. I I kept the technique, and most of the flavour profile, but I also added some Greek touches to mingle it up.
(the quantities given below indicatively are for about 400 gr of carrots)
Start by cooking the carrots. Keep them holding some bite, do not turn them into mash! Here I use baby carrots and steam them.
Make a red pepper paste, using a hand blender or a mixer, with:
Garlic, 1/2 clove
Lemon juice, 1 tbsp
Red peppers, pickled - in Greece you get them in a jar, the are called "Peppers Florinis", from Florina, where they are best cultivated. I go light on the garlic and heavy on the lemon, alternatively use store bought harissa paste - 150 gr
Make a spice mix using equal quantities of:
Cumin, ground, 1/2 tsp
Coriander, ground, 1/2 tsp
Paprika, sweet, 1/2 tsp
As soon as the carrots are cooked (and drained), so while still hot, use a colander to toss them around with some drops of:
Olive Oil
and the spice mix. Leave to cool and cut, as thin as you can:
Red Chilli, deseeded and deveined, 1 pc
Celery stalks, 2 tbsp
Add to the colander along with:
Olive oil fillets, 1/2 cup - I prefer to use green here
and mix well. Place on a platter and sprinkle a generous amount of:
Sesame seeds
Nigella seeds
Finally, and of you are lucky enough to be able to get it, garnish with pickled rock samphire (the greek word is kritamo).