Curry night sides: citrusy carrot salad with herbs and toasted almonds
A few weeks back I held a curry night at my place to catch up with a bunch of friends before heading home to Australia for a somewhat impromptu holiday-slash-food-odyssey. Curry nights are a great low maintenance dinner party to throw especially on a cold wintery evening because you’re bound to get a fantastic selection of curries from around the world with very little preparation.
Curry nights come with a set of rules – everyone brings their best homemade curry, a side and something to drink. The host provides some rice for all.
With 7 people at this curry night we ended up with a very exotic selection of 4 curries and sides:
- Malaysian beef rendang
- Indian/English chicken tikka masala
- Indian saag paneer
- Indian chicken rogan josh
- Carrot salad
- Naan bread
- Chutneys and garnishes
Although we had the best intentions to photograph all of the curries – we even set up the photography studio – we only managed to shoot the carrot salad since it had already been prepared from the start of the night. It is not easy to style and shoot 4 curries and sides with 7 hungry people waiting to dig in.
But here’s the recipe for Laurel’s refreshing side – carrot salad with herbs and toasted almonds. She adapted it from the new book, Jamie’s 30 minute meals, which based on my experience is more like Jamie’s 1 hour meals (if you don’t prepare food at professional chef speed!)
Citrusy carrot salad with herbs and toasted almonds
Ingredients:
1 handful of flaked almonds, toasted
5-6 carrots, washed, trimmed and coarsely grated
1 fresh red chilli, stalks and seeds removed
1 handful of fresh coriander, chopped
1 2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
Olive oil
Salt
1 lemon
Method:
1) Toast the almonds by tossing in a frying pan until they are golden. Put them aside in a small bowl
2) Place the carrots, chilli, 2/3 of the coriander, ginger in a large serving bowl and mix together
3) Drizzle a good amount of olive oil over the salad and add a pinch of salt
4) Finely grate a little lemon zest into the bowl
5) Squeeze lemon juice to taste
6) Toss the salad
7) Garnish with the remaining coriander and toasted almonds
Serves 6-8 as a side with plenty of curries!
Looks so tasty! I would like to try.
Curry night sounds like so much fun. My friends and i should try that. We are all spicy food lovers so i think we would have a blast:) Your salad woud have complimented all those other spicy dishes perfectly!
Hi Jenny, you’ve got a lovely blog. that curry looks
delicious! I love curries too. I’d probably swap the beef for
chicken though as we don’t eat beef. Havn’t been to too many pot
luck parties lately but I agree they are a lot of fun. Glad you
sent me the Foodbuzz invite. Still not quite understanding how
these buzz points go up and down but i’m sure I’ll learn pretty
soon. I think it is really fun meeting total strangers with similar
interests.
Curry night…what genius! Sounds like a great idea for a get-together. And this carrot salad sounds delish!
Yum! There’s a sandwich shop here in Chicago that serves a
slaw like this one one of my favorite sandwiches. I’ve never tried
making it myself, but Laurel’s recipe seems simple and delicious.
Curry night is a great idea! I’d love to start something like that
with my friends.
this is such a great idea – i’m going to try hosting a curry night with my friends too! i’ve done fondue night with my friends and it was a hit!
This looks great. I’m making saag paneer tomorrow and this would be a perfect side.
This was suc ha delicious dish! I encourage taking the time to make this one!
This looks delicious…and healthy! I think I may make it this week
Hey Cute Jenny Nguyen! Got your comment on FoodBuzz. Gorgeous blog! “Any recommendations for improvement”? I think NOT. Your photos are exceptional. Your posts are delicious and well written. Your blog is visually appealling and well organized. I guess my only suggestion is that you begin teaching classes on how to do it right to aspiring food bloggers because you certainly have it down. I also subscribed! What a find you are. Thanks for the offer to visit. Pop by my blog too! Will be a regular reader. Love the faux mustache in your FB photo too. Very playful (I suspect as you are). Toni (Boulder Locavore)
This is really delicious and healthy at the same time. Thanks for sharing!
i do a similar salad adapted from the Monk’s cookbook. . it’s a great, healthy, and refreshing side. however, it does need to sit for up to 2 hours to let the flavors come together.
Superb piece of writing, I will be checking back again often to look around for updates.
What a great idea for a party! This salad is right up our alley, we will try it soon, thanks for the recipe!
Looks delicious! I love the citrus and carrot combo.
Great idea to hold a curry night : )
Great looking salad. I always find a way to include citrus in my salad.
Curry night looks like such a great idea! I’ve only cooked with madras curry. Are there specific kinds of curry you typically cook with?
Thanks for the welcome on Foodbuzz! Can’t wait to give your blog a proper snoop. I gotta say, this post is very encouraging. I’m a curry fiend!
Thanks again!
Curry night? I love to have theme potlucks and this may be my next one!!!
This is beautiful! I love the combination of bright colors and bold flavors. Tasty!
Looks amazing! Thanks for checking out my blog as well! At a glance it all looks wonderful! I’ll def be back to go through it all in more detail! Thanks again
Sounds Very delicious…You have nice and lovely blog…
This is a salad that I will eat with any spicy food, It looks refreshing, love the citrus. I may add little raisins.
The toasted almonds and the crunch of all ingredients is mmmm
this looks great and the party sounds like loads of fun – i really want to have one – can anyone help me out with the practicalities of it though? Our kitchen isn’t very big so everyone wouldn’t be able to make their own here and by the time they get here if they made it at home it would be cold? do you just warm them all up? thanks
Hey Kerry! my kitchen is tiny too…but that’s the beauty of a curry night! You cook your own, and the guests cook their own in their kitchens at home…they just bring their curry in a pot and heat it up on the stove or even microwave! easy