Spiced carrot and cashew salad, with coconut and lime

FOR THE ROASTED CARROTS

500g carrots, peeled and cut into batons.
Olive or coconut oil
1 tablespoon of honey
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon nigella (black onion) seeds

FOR THE SALAD

Half a cucumber, peeled into ribbons.
4 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 small red onion, finely sliced
The juice of 1 lime

FOR THE SPICED CASHEWS

Optional: 20 curry leaves.
1 teaspoon dried turmeric
1 onion, finely sliced
100g cashew nuts

TO SERVE

A large bunch of coriander, chopped
2 large red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped (One chilli is meant to be mixed in, but I serve both on the side to keep the kids happy.)
70g desiccated coconut, dry fried until lightly golden.
1 lime, quartered, for squeezing over.

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Put the carrots in a roasting tray with a good drizzle of olive oil and the honey. Scatter over the mustard and nigella seeds and roast them for 30 minutes, until starting to caramelize.

Put the cucumber, tomatoes, and red onion into a bowl and toss with the lime juice and a little salt. Use a large bowl, because later you’ll be mixing in the carrots.

Make the spiced cashews. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and add the curry leaves and turmeric. Stir for a moment, then mix in the onion. Two minutes later add the cashews too, and fry them until golden and toasted. Spread them on a plate to cool and sprinkle with salt.

Remove the carrots from the oven and add them to the salad mixture, scraping up the seeds too if they’re not too burnt.

To serve, you need a large platter, or two dinner plates. Spread the ingredients out on the platter in the following order –

• The salad mix including the carrots and all the juices from the bowl.
• Coriander
• Cashews
• Coconut

Put the lime segments around the edge, or squeeze them directly over the salad. We eat this with flat breads or chapattis, but it’s also nice on its own.

Enjoy!