Carrot Salad with Pomegranate ♥ Vegan Recipe

Carrot Salad with Pomegranate
A quick and colorful salad, grated carrot tossed in a light vinaigrette with pomegranate seeds. Low carb. Weight Watchers 1 point. Vegan.

Even without a blanket of snow, beginning somewhere in mid-November or early December, I think we all begin to crave color, perhaps because of the shorter days, the long darkness of winter nights.

And my goodness, does this quick salad ever pack a punch of color!

The recipe comes from a reader, Kathie from Los Angeles, who shares Weight Watchers-friendly recipes with me every so often. Here's how she sold me on the concept for this colorful salad, it took all of ten seconds. "Quick, delicious. I am in love with this concoction."

It goes together quickly and packs a flavor punch and a crunch punch (ha!) too.

RECIPE for CARROT SALAD with POMEGRANATE

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 20 minutes
Serves 4

6 carrots, trimmed
Seeds from half a pomegranate (The Quick & Easy Way to Remove Seeds from a Pomegranate)
Orange segments, optional (Kathie says she rarely adds these)
1/4 cup dried blueberries (I used on-hand and less-expensive dried currants)

DRESSING
2 tablespoons good vinegar, preferably a fruity one
1 teaspoon honey or agave
2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Grate the carrots on the 'large' holes of a hand grater or (as I have) use a Benriner to cut thin strips.

Whisk the dressing ingredients, toss with the carrots, pomegranate seeds and dried fruit. Serve and savor!

TO MAKE AHEAD
DAY BEFORE Separate the pomegranate seeds, drain and refrigerate.
DAY OF Grate the carrots. If more than about an hour before serving, drop into cold water and refrigerate. Drain well.
JUST BEFORE SERVING Combine the carrots, pomegranate seeds and fruit with the dressing.


KITCHEN NOTES
To save a little time, Kathie buys containers of pomegranate seeds at Trader Joe's.
There are seeds inside the juice sacks called arils, these get eaten too!
If you want to make this ahead, prep the components but don't combine until just before serving. Otherwise, the vinegar stains the carrots and they actually get a tiny bit soggy.

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© Copyright 2009

Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. This looks awesome; I love how the colors pop! What kind of vinegar are you referring to? White vinegar? Apple Cider Vinegar? If you have a specific product recommendation, I'm all ears :)

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  2. Hi M ~ Here's how I describe good vinegar over at Kitchen Parade. Hope it helps!

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  3. Thanks for this recipe, the salad looks like it's packed with health.

    My Mom recently sent this link to a video with Martha Stewart demonstrating an amazingly easy way to deal with pomegranates. As my Mom wrote, "leave it to Martha Stewart, this is a good thing!"

    http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=52007549392

    Not a drop of juice spilled.

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  4. Sounds simple and elegant :) I love the way you've cut the carrots so thin :)

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  5. I just got a gift of O Pomegranate Champagne Vinegar from the company you talked about in your link. Love it. Gonna try this recipe with it. I'll let you know.

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  6. A truck turned over causing all kinds of mayhem --- the freeway needed to be closed, and the road needed cleaning up. You know what the truck was carrying? Pomegranates. What a waste!

    Thanks for the publish--I hope people like it!

    You had a higher carrot ratio than I had in my original recipe ... and that is simply because I need my carrots disguised.

    Take care!

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  7. Wow, what color! I just baked a cranberry bread from the Nov/Dec, 09 WW mag issue!

    Enjoy!

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  8. This is simply delicious! I ended up using white wine vinegar (after tasting every type I had in the house - 7)

    The family should love it.

    Thanks for your posts. I really enjoy them.

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  9. I made this last night and it was a winner. I had no dried bluberries (or raisins or currants), so omitted that and used the oranges. Though the "orange" taste was good, they could have been omitted. I think I might try it with Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar next time.

    Sally

    ReplyDelete

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna