RECIPE: Carrot Salad with Harissa and Mint Haloumi

The original recipe for this salad called for feta; but, our farm is now selling mint haloumi, so I decided to use that instead and it was delicious!  If you can't get haloumi, use feta instead.

Original recipe: Carrot Salad with Harissa and Feta

Carrot Salad with Harissa and Mint Haloumi

Serves 4 as a side dish.

• 3/4 pound carrots, peeled, trimmed, and coarsely grated
• 4 T. olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic, crushed
• 1/4 t. ground caraway seeds
• 1/2 t. ground cumin seeds
• 1/2 t. paprika
• 3/4 t. harissa (I used 1.5 teaspoons*)
• 1/2 t. sugar
• 3 T. fresh lemon juice
• 1 t. Himalayan pink salt
• 2 T. flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 2 T. fresh mint, finely chopped, or 1 t. dried

I used a box grater to grate my carrots, and they're much smaller pieces than the ones in the original recipe, which were grated in a food processor.  I prefer carrot salads made with a finer grate (juicer pulp is best!) even though the larger grate looks better in pictures.

Heat the oil in a small saute pan over medium heat and add the garlic, caraway, cumin, paprika, harissa, and sugar.  If you're using dried mint, add that, too.  Saute until fragrant, just to take the raw edge off the garlic, 1-2 minutes.

Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and salt.

Pour over the carrots and mix.  Add the herbs and mix.  Leave to infuse for one hour.

Add the feta, mix and serve.

* I make our harissa with cayenne pepper, which is fairly mild, and I use many other spices, so ours may not be as hot as a purchased harissa (I can't say for sure, because I've never bought one, but the ones I've had in North African restaurants were SEARINGLY hot!)  Adjust the quantity in this recipe based on your heat tolerance, and the amount of heat in your harissa.