Salad Days: Carrot, celery, sweetcorn and cashew salad with toasted cumin dressing

This salad was made to accompany pork chops. Coleslaw is often paired with pork, for good reason — the crispness of a slaw matches pork really well, just as sautéed shredded cabbage goes well with pork.

But I decided to ring the changes and focus not on cabbage, but on the other key element of coleslaw – carrots.

In my mind’s eye were julienned strips of fresh carrot, but it would be the additional elements that would make this dish, as well as a perky dressing. And it needed some kind of a kick.

Then, cumin seeds popped into my head — and in an instant I knew they would have to be toasted. This in turn prompted me to choose another toasted item — cashews.

Having decided on a carrot salad with a toasted cumin dressing and finished with toasted cashews, the other ingredients swiftly lined up. There’d be celery and sweetcorn too – that’s two extra bits of crunch. For a touch of herby flair, there’d be fresh coriander leaves, and a finely chopped chilli for a bit of fire.

Finally, the toasted cumin seeds would be stirred into a simple dressing of lavender vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, with salt and black pepper. This would be left to steep for at least an hour for the flavour of the toasted cumin seeds to infuse into the oil and vinegar.

Optionally, you could add 1 chopped red chilli and 1 chopped garlic clove to the dressing.

This salad is best made a few hours before it is to be served, for the flavours of the dressing to permeate the ingredients.

Tony’s carrot, celery, sweetcorn and cashew salad with toasted cumin dressing

(Enough for 1 medium salad bowl)

Ingredients

3 large carrots

1 celery stalk

1 corn on the cob / mealie

½ a cup of raw, unsalted cashew nuts, toasted

⅓ cup of chopped coriander leaves, no stems

For the dressing:

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 Tbsp Rozendal lavender vinegar, or similar

1 Tbsp cumin seeds, toasted

1 red chilli, seeded and chopped finely (optional)

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped finely (optional)

Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

First steam the mealie over rapidly boiling water in a covered pot. This should take about 15 minutes. Remove to a plate and put it in the fridge to cool down rapidly. (Or even in a freezer if you like.)

Put a pan on a moderate heat and add the cumin seeds. Toast them, tossing them around, until you suddenly smell their nutty aroma, then turn the heat off. Mix the vinegar and oil in a small bowl and add the hot cumin seeds. Season with salt and black pepper and let it infuse while you prepare the salad. (Stir in the chopped garlic and chilli too if using.)

Toast the cashews in the same pan that you toasted the cumin in. It’s no problem if they take on a bit of the cumin flavour. Don’t do anything else before the nuts are toasted and you’ve removed the pan from the heat. If you do, you will burn them.

Peel the carrots and slice them carefully into slim batons (i.e. julienne strips) like those in the photograph above. Slice the celery in the same way, as thinly as you can.

Remove the corn from the fridge and slice off the kernels.

Assemble the salad by adding the carrots, celery and corn kernels to a bowl and pouring two thirds of the dressing over. Toss well. Add the chopped coriander and toss again.

Scatter the toasted cashews over the top. Serve as a side dish with pork chops. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award, in 2021 and 2023.

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.