Moroccan Carrot Salad with Cumin and Iranian Raisins

After perusing a few carrot salad recipes, I eventually honed down to this one from a new cookbook, Good Food For All, from The Stop. The Stop is a community food centre in Toronto that is not only one of Canada’s oldest food banks, but also has a social mission to empower its community users to eat healthy through cooking classes and sustainable food education, community cooking, community oven bakes and food markets. They also have a 10,000-square foot garden, The Green Barn, which is used to produce their own food and a focal point to encourage and learn about sustainable, local, healthy produce. Joshna Maharaj, one of the chef at The Stop, gave a talk at my work, encouraging cooking at home.  Chefs are more glamorous than ever in popular culture, she explained, but less people are doing any sort of home cooking.

The Stop’s first cookbook, Good Food For All, is an amazing collection of seasonal, local dishes that are healthy and economical, with every dish developed by Joshna Maharaj (with collaboration from volunteers, other chefs, etc) and served at one point at The Stop’s community kitchens.  They are hopefully a springboard to get people eating at home without too much fuss.

There are many recipes I wished to try amongst the 80 featured in the cookbook.  It is thrilling to have them organizing by season, when it matches my own seasonal and local ingredients (Toronto seasons!).  I started with this delicious carrot salad with Moroccan overtones. It was absolutely delicious with the subtle tang from the apple cider vinegar with the smoky cumin, interlaced around sweet shredded carrots. The scallions gave a subtle hit of heat and surprisingly, I loved the raisins! I used Iranian green raisins, which are less sweet than typical Sultana raisins and have citrus notes. They paired perfectly with this salad. If the rest of the recipes in this cookbook are like this, then I will be hooked.

My only beef with the cookbook is that many recipes rely on a food processor. While I consider myself to have a well-stocked kitchen, I do not have a food processor. For those with lower incomes, I imagine they wouldn’t have one either, which makes some of the recipes more difficult to tackle.

This is my submission to this month’s Cooking with Seeds featuring Cumin.

Moroccan Carrot Salad with Cumin and Iranian Raisins

3 large carrots, grated
2 scallions, green parts only, very finely chopped
1 small handful flat-leaf parsley, very finely chopped (omitted!)
1 handful raisins
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp ground cumin (for a stronger flavour, try roasting the seeds and then grinding them)
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Combine all ingredients and let marinate for 15 minutes for flavours to blend.

Serves 4 if you’re lucky!