Carrots with dukkah and preserved lemon

Dukkah is a tempting mix of bashed nuts and spices. In this simple dish, it’s soaked with preserved lemon, olive oil and lemon juice, then tossed with grated raw carrot.

Carrots with dukka and preserved lemon Credit: Bloomsbury

• serves

  3

• prep

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
• pinch of dried chilli flakes
• 100 g whole, skin-on almonds
• 1 tbsp finely chopped preserved lemon (peel and flesh, but no pips)
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• juice of ½ lemon
• 3 medium carrots (about 300 g in total)
• sea salt and black pepper

Instructions

Using a pestle and mortar, pound the spice seeds with the dried chilli to grind them coarsely, then tip into a bowl. Put the almonds into the mortar and pound them to break them up into chunky bits (or chop them roughly if you prefer), then add to the bashed spices.

Add the preserved lemon, olive oil and lemon juice to the nutty, spicy mix and stir together. Leave to macerate while you prepare the carrots.

Peel and trim the carrots then grate them coarsely into a large bowl.

Pour the spicy, oily almond mixture over the grated carrots. Season with some salt and pepper and mix the whole lot together thoroughly. Taste and add more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice if needed, then it’s ready to serve. Try serving it with hummus [get Hugh's roast root hummus recipe here} or alongside a vegetable stew. 

Notes 

Try the following swaps:

• Roots - Use grated raw beetroot or celeriac in place of the carrots.

• Nuts - Try bashed hazelnuts or walnuts instead of almonds.

• Spices - Fennel seeds can replace the cumin, coriander or caraway seeds, and the dried chilli flakes can be swapped with 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika.

• Citrus - If you don’t have preserved lemon, use the finely grated zest of 1 large orange or a couple of lemons.

Recipe and image from River Cottage Much More Veg! by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Bloomsbury, hb, $45).

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.