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!

 

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