Belarus: Belarusian Carrot Salad
My partner is not the best eater. He doesn't seem to understand that every element of the dish should go in your mouth at the same time. He didn't do this for Antigua, or Bahrain, or Barbados, and he didn't do it with Belarus either.
He took one mouthful of this salad and immediately went "ugh, you can have this." He's so good to me.
I'm not offended, in fact it made me laugh out loud. The shock on his face and surprise at the taste was hilarious. I actually thought the carrot salad had a nice zing to it, but clearly he thought the zing was a bit too much for him. I thought that the acidity in the salad matched pretty perfectly with the greasiness of the draniki and so they balanced each other out, but my partner didn't try the two dishes together. His mistake.
I'll admit, the carrot salad on it's own is a bit much. The carrot soaks in vinegar for a few hours before serving, so it definitely has an edge to it. But again, I think it was an ideal companion to the oily potato pancakes, and so I would suggest that if you're going to make this dish, serve it with something that has a bit of grease to cut through it.
This is an adaptation of Delia Smith's Belarusian carrot salad, which she was given by a family she visited in Minsk. She had a step where she fried some onion in some oil and then used the oil but discarded the onion. I skipped that step and added in some red onion instead. She also used coriander seeds whereas I just used some dried coriander leaves which I had on hand. You can find the original recipe I was following here but my own version of it is below.
Belarusian Carrot Salad
Serves 3
Ingredients
He took one mouthful of this salad and immediately went "ugh, you can have this." He's so good to me.
I'm not offended, in fact it made me laugh out loud. The shock on his face and surprise at the taste was hilarious. I actually thought the carrot salad had a nice zing to it, but clearly he thought the zing was a bit too much for him. I thought that the acidity in the salad matched pretty perfectly with the greasiness of the draniki and so they balanced each other out, but my partner didn't try the two dishes together. His mistake.
I'll admit, the carrot salad on it's own is a bit much. The carrot soaks in vinegar for a few hours before serving, so it definitely has an edge to it. But again, I think it was an ideal companion to the oily potato pancakes, and so I would suggest that if you're going to make this dish, serve it with something that has a bit of grease to cut through it.
This is an adaptation of Delia Smith's Belarusian carrot salad, which she was given by a family she visited in Minsk. She had a step where she fried some onion in some oil and then used the oil but discarded the onion. I skipped that step and added in some red onion instead. She also used coriander seeds whereas I just used some dried coriander leaves which I had on hand. You can find the original recipe I was following here but my own version of it is below.
Belarusian Carrot Salad
Serves 3
Ingredients
- 250g carrots
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 red onion, finely diced
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried coriander leaves
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Several hours before serving, or the previous evening, grate the carrots and place into a bowl. Pour over the vinegar and salt, and mix well. Leave to sit in the fridge either for at least 3 hours, or overnight, to allow the flavours to develop.
- When ready to continue, check to see how much carrot juice has separated. Pour this out.
- Add all other ingredients and mix to combine. Serve with greasy food.
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