Lightly Pickled Carrot Salad

This pickled carrot salad is inspired by a Korean carrot recipe and is made with warm spices, apple cider vinegar and fresh mint. This is a great paleo and Whole30 friendly side dish or a condiment.

When I lived in Ukraine I used to love going to our local markets to get a hot dog that was served with an amazing pickled, grated carrot slaw inside the bun. After a while, I started seeing the same carrot salad sold from big wooden barrels and people would buy kilos of it. It’s known as ‘the Korean carrots’. I doubt it actually comes from Korea but my guess is that it mimics the process of light fermentation with certain spices and is similar to vegetable sides served in Korean restaurants.

A while back I found a recipe for Korean carrots online and decided to make my version based on that. The original pickled carrot is made with crushed coriander seeds, garlic, sugar, white vinegar and olive oil. I wanted to give it a more Middle-Eastern/Moroccan spin so I’ve taken out the garlic and added cumin, chilli and mint. I used apple cider vinegar  for its natural sweetness and apple flavour and removed any added sugar.

This dish of lightly pickled and spices carrot is a great accompaniment to other dishes and I love to roll it in ham or turkey slices with some avocado for a snack.

Full Recipe 

Find the full list of ingredients, instructions, and a nutritional breakdown below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let me know in the comments, and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.

Lightly Pickled Carrot Salad with Mint & Coriander Seeds

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• Author: Irena Macri
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 5
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x
• Category: Side
• Method: Pickled
• Cuisine: Asian
• Diet: Vegetarian

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Description

This pickled carrot salad is inspired by a Korean carrot recipe and is made with warm spices, apple cider vinegar and fresh mint. This is a great paleo and Whole30 friendly side dish or a condiment.

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Ingredients

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• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• A pinch of pepper
• 1 +1/2 tsp coriander seeds (see notes for powder)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds (see notes for powder)
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 4 carrots, grated
• 1/2 small red chilli, seeds out and finely chopped
• 10 fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

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Instructions

• Mix the vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside.
• Heat a frying pan over medium and cook the coriander and cumin seeds with no oil for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning. This toasting process will heat the oils and release all the beautiful aromas and flavours from the spices.
• Grind the toasted coriander and cumin seeds using mortar and pestle or an electric grinder. You can also beat the hell out of them with a wooden pin. Return the spices to the frying pan and add the olive oil. Heat up until hot but not smoking or sizzling, cook together for 30 seconds.
• Mix the carrots with chilli and mint and pour in the vinegar dressing. Now add the hot spiced oil together with the spices and mix thoroughly. I know this sounds strange but adding hot oil to carrots adds magic to the pickling process. Also, I don’t know if this is just an old myth but treating raw carrots with hot oil helps to release beta-carotene. I suppose that does happen when you cook carrots so there you go.
• Garnish with extra mint.

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Notes

If you don’t have whole coriander seeds or cumin seeds, simply heat the olive oil over medium and add the spiced powders once hot. Stir through and pour that oil over the carrots.

Nutrition

• Serving Size:
• Calories: 153
• Sugar: 3.2 g
• Sodium: 334.6 mg
• Fat: 14.4 g
• Carbohydrates: 7.3 g
• Protein: 0.9 g
• Cholesterol: 0 mg

Keywords: Carrots, Pickles, Vegetarian, Vegan