Sweet Curried Carrot Slaw

I have a couple friends who raved about this curry carrot salad at the Co-Op in Sacramento.  They love it.  Crave it.  Tell me I must must must try it.

I went.  They were out.  A few times.

Finally I got this salad a couple weeks ago.

Meh.

I’m sure in part it’s that whole over-hype thing.  It’s like, you’re the last of your friends to see Titanic when it came out.  They all loved it.  They cried.  They cry talking about it.  You finally go, expecting the absolute best movie ever with the most heart-wrenching story.  This can only lead to disappointment.

I have a weird sense of pride for being the only woman I know who hated Titanic.  But this salad?  Unacceptable.

I want a curry carrot salad that I love as much as I expected.

So I made my own.  Very similar to the store-bought one, actually.  But tailored to my own preferences.

I’m not going to tell you how good it is.  Spare the hype and all.

Try it.  You might like it.

serves 2
3 large carrots (mine were giant – 4 regular ones would work), shredded
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
1/3 C walnuts, chopped
1/4 C raisins (optional – I’m not a huge fan, but I suspect you might be!)
1/4 C dates, chopped
3 T reduced fat mayonnaise
3/4 t curry powder
1/4 t turmeric
pinch each salt & black pepper
tiny pinch ground cayenne

Mix everything together!  This was a great task for my new food processor – shred the carrots, slice the celery, and chop the walnuts with it.  Done in a flash.  Then mix everything else together by hand in a bowl.

Creamy, sweet and very mildly spiced. 

A few more gratuitous playing-with-my-new-camera pics from a visit to my sister and niece: