The Thai restaurant in Missoula serves a yummy carrot, cabbage, and peanut salad. To pair with the Tom Kha soup we love, I created a variation on that Thai carrot salad. Like all of my recipes, I tried to keep it as simple as possible, using readily available ingredients. This gem comes together in five minutes and can be made vegan.
If you can get your hands on rainbow carrots, they make for a beautiful salad, but they don’t change the flavor, so if you can’t find them, don’t worry. Be sure to chop the peanuts finely to get them incorporated into each bite of the salad. If you want this salad to be vegan, you’ll need to make a fish sauce substitute. Here’s a great vegan fish sauce recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.
- 1½ pounds carrots (preferably rainbow), peeled
- ½ cup salted peanuts, chopped fine
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped coarse
- dressing:
- 2 limes, juiced
- 1 Tablespoon fish sauce (see text for vegan substitution)
- ¼ tsp red pepper
- Pinch of sugar
- Wash, peel, and slice carrots as thinly as possible with a chef's knife (or with a mandolin).
- Finely chop peanuts.
- Wash and coarsely chop cilantro.
- Place carrots, peanuts, and cilantro into a bowl large enough to toss with the dressing.
- Drizzle dressing over the salad and toss to coat all carrots, peanuts, and cilantro.
- Enjoy!