Carrot and radish salad with exotic passion fruit dressing

Shredded raw carrots and radishes with Caribbean passion fruit dressing!

Some say eating food raw is the best way you can eat it. This delicious raw salad is super crunchy and has exciting bold flavors in it.

Growing up I was quite a picky eater. Carrots and radishes were both completely out of the question at that point in time. Now however I learned to love their raw crunchiness. The subtle sweetness of the carrot and the peppery spiciness of the radishes make for a good complementary raw little salad. They still need a little help for an exciting dressing to reach perfection.

When I was on the small Caribbean island of Curacao a few years back I had my first ever fresh passion fruit. I have had desserts or drinks before with passion fruit in them, but I never had actually tasted the real deal. I was strolling through the fruit market and a vendor tried to sell us passion fruit. Well, of course, why not. He cut open the fruit and poured some honey into the fruits cavity, put a straw in there, gave it a good mix and handed it over. It was absolutely delicious! The honey mellowed out the slight acidity of the fruit. With the straw, I could suck all the juicy flesh and seeds straight out. Don’t be intimidated by the passion fruit seeds. They are crunchy but completely edible. The only thing I can compare them to are inside-out pomegranate seeds (if that makes sense to anyone…). They make for a great texture contrast in this salad.

This creation is one of the dishes I came up with when writing my second book Flavor Math as I was on a personal journey to balance flavors better and combine ingredients in more creative ways. The 66 food combinations in the book feature the flavors that have proven themselves all over the world, with exciting and daring new pairings that will spark your creativity! The book is available digitally (PDF)! 

You can either grate the carrots and radishes or cut them by hand into julienne – that’s the fancy French term for cutting veggies into matchsticks. The official dimensions for these matchsticks are 2x2mm with a maximum length of 4-5 centimeter. First, cut your carrot into 4 cm long pieces, cut into 2mm thin slices and then cut the slices again into 2mm thick slices. Voila, you have fancy edible French matchsticks. Hooray for math!

(Either as a side-salad for 2 people or as a main meal for 1 hungry eater)

Ingredients
  • 300g carrots
  • 200g radishes
  • 1-2 passion fruits, depending on their size and the amount of pulp they contain
  • 2 tablespoon honey
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon neutral oil
  • About 4 tablespoons of chopped chives 

 

Slice and dice, then hustle up a dressing

Cut the carrots and radishes into julienne matchsticks or grate them. If you do grate them, discard the excess liquid that comes out.

Cut off the top third of the passion fruit and scoop the pulp into a salad bowl. Add the honey, lime juice, oil and a little sprinkle of salt, then whisk until well combined.

Toss all ingredients to combine, sprinkle with chopped chives and serve immediately!

 

What are your thoughts on raw food? Do you like raw carrot salads like this or do you prefer your carrots cooked to mush? Have you ever had fresh passion fruit and do you like this dressing made with it? Share your thoughts and suggestions with us in the comments below!

If you want to learn more about flavors and how to combine them, check out my second book “Flavor Math” which is available digitally (PDF)! 

PS: This recipe is inspired by the idea that carrots share chemical flavor compounds with radishes, passion fruit as well as curry. That’s why they work so well together. Check out James Briscione’s book The Flavor Matrix on food pairing if you are interested in digging deeper into this!

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