Spiced Baby Kale, Carrot, Coconut and Raisin Salad

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This salad represents an epic feat of bravery for a veggie freak such as myself. The other day, I opened the fridge and found a bag of baby kale, a couple of carrots and a lot of echoey space. Ordinarily this would send me into a total fucking tail spin followed by an urgent mercy dash to the supermarket. But I didn’t. See the thing is, that when it comes to plant matter supplies I’m totally fucking ludicrous, I get scared when stocks get low, although low in veggie freak speak is what rational people would consider a weeks' supply. I shop for armageddon every week, then routinely do the chicken little dance in front of the fridge 'the sky is falling, we're *nearly* out of veggies, we'll all get scurvy or starve and DIE! Given given that neither of these eventualities has actually occurred yet I've begun to suspect my fears may be a bit unfounded.

The frequency of my shopping trips, combined with the amount it takes to feed this machine means I’m not cheap to run. And while I’ll always prioritise spending money on fresh produce, because no matter how much greens cost it’s still a whole lot fucking cheaper than hospital bills, I do think there’s room to be a bit more economically savvy about it.

Don’t worry, I’m not planning to do anything as batshit crazy as curb my veggie intake, but I am trying to curb my shopping trips and be creative with what I have on hand, which is actually leading to some tasty concoctions! This salad is a perfect case in point - I don’t care how fucking earthy you are, no one is going to call kale or carrots exciting on their own, but add some tasty extras, a bit of spice & suddenly they're looking a lot more blingin.

Get this stuff

1 bag or about 150 - 200 grams  baby kale

2-3 large carrots, peeled and grated

4 T raisins or you can sub in goji berries or finely chopped dates if you prefer

4 T shredded coconut

1 T macadamia, coconut, extra virgin olive oil or your good quality oil of choice

Juice of 1 lemon

2 - 4 t of ground cumin

Freshly ground salt & pepper

2 T tahini or nut butter

2 T dukkah or mixed toasted seeds

Do this with it

Combine the grated carrot, oil, lemon juice, 2 t of the cumin and a generous dose of salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well to get the carrot all well covered. I’m a lover of big bold flavours so I used about 4 t of cumin but how much you use will depend on how much spice you like in your life so I’d recommend starting with only half the cumin to begin with then doing a taste and adjusting from there. Once you have the balance right add the coconut and raisins and mix them through thorougly.

If you want to be all boy scout like and be prepared (dib dib dob dob etc) this is a great salad where you can do most of the work in advance. I whacked this mixture in the fridge for a couple of hours to give the flavours time to meld and mingle and do their sexy thing together. But, if you don’t have time to fuck around no matter, just get on with things.

Toss the carrot mixture through the kale then drizzle with a couple of generous tablespoons of tahini or nut butter on top then sprinkle over the dukkah or seeds for a fancy finish.

See? Kale and carrots just got good!