Carrot salad

You have  a winner when you find a recipe with basically four ingredients that just wows you. This carrot salad originally came to me from Blue Apron minus the sumac, which provides a lemony pop, and the roasted almonds, which give it crunch.

Blue Apron has expanded my cooking horizons because every week I get a box from them it includes ingredients that I’ve rarely used or never even heard about. Mirin is one of those ingredients. It’s a sweet Japanese rice wine that’s sold in the same section where you find soy sauce in the super market.

I’ve made this salad three times now and everyone who tastes it gets this look in their eyes like, “whoa – this is much more exciting than I thought.” It’s simple but it’s also complex. And I’m long past my bikini days (truth be told I never actually had bikini days even in my best year) but as summer knocks on the door (please hurry!), I’d make this carrot salad every day.

Carrot Salad

4 carrots, peeled and shredded

2 tablespoons mirin

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon sumac

Coarsely chopped roasted almonds

Combine the carrots, mirin, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil. Add salt, pepper and sumac. Mix thoroughly and let marinate for about 20 minutes. Add as many chopped almonds as you’d like.

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