After a bountiful harvest, Israeli markets are currently full of delicious, nutritious carrots.
Food bloggers, Orly Cohen and Limor Laniado Tiroche shared their carrot recipes to help us use this abundance and reduce commerical and agricultural food waste.
Carrot, Date & Nut Cake
Limor Laniado Tiroche – Local Kitchen
A moist, fluffy and delicious carrot cake. For a more festive presentation, cake can be iced with sour cream and decorated with orange or lemon zest.
Ingredients:
Round spring pan, 26cm diameter
4 eggs, room temperature
1 cup, dark brown sugar (compressed)
1 cup olive or sunflower oil
5 cups carrots, shredded
8 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
100 grams (1/2 cup) hazelnuts or walnuts, peeled and roughly chopped
2 cups sifted flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
For icing:
2 cups sour cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 180oC/355oF. Cover bottom of spring pan with baking paper and coat the sides with oil.
Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into bowl. Stir gently.
In bowl of electric mixer, whip eggs and sugar until they are incorporated. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add oil. Add carrot, dates, nuts and mix 1 minute. Stop the mixer and add flour mixture. Mix gently. Pour batter into spring pan and bake 1 hour.
Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar or cover in icing.
To make icing:
Preheat oven to 150oC/300oF. In bowl, mix sour cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract and pour over cake. Bake 7 minutes. Refrigerate for 12 hours before serving.
Carrot Salad
Ingredients:
½ kilo (slightly over a pound) carrot chopped into matchstick sized pieces
50 grams (¼cup) sugared pecans, chopped
100 grams (½ cup) dried cranberries and raisins
¼ bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
¼ bunch of parsley, finely chopped
Leaves from 3 branches of nana (spearmint) finely chopped
Sauce:
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp silan (date honey)
1 tbsp tahini
1 tsp chopped chili peppers (optional)
Salt and pepper
1-2 tbsp water to dilute sauce if necessary
Directions:
Mix all ingredients in bowl. Put all sauce ingredients in bottle or jar and shake well until the mixture comes together. Pour sauce on salad and mix. Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to mix. It tastes even better the next day!