Beautiful, healthy, crunchy and creamy, this carrot salad is one of those incredibly tasty side dishes that you'll be coming back to time and time again. Not only is it's super healthy and whole-foods based, plentiful in lentils, carrots, tahini and pistachio, but it's very easy to make ahead of time and store in the fridge - a win for the meal prep'ers out there.
2 - 3tablespoonswater,or more for thinner dressing
Dashofsea salt and ground black pepper,to taste
½cupunsalted shelled pistachios,roughly chopped, for garnish
Instructions
Begin by measuring out 1 cup of dry green lentils, and bring 3 cups of water to boil in a medium pot. Briefly spread the lentils out on a lightly-colored dish cloth, and pick through them to ensure there is no debris. Then, cook the lentils at a steady boil for about 10 - 15 minutes, or until tender but not mushy (you just don't want them crunchy, basically). Double-check the instructions on the package, if you have them, since each brand of lentil can sometimes cook differently. Once boiled, drain and rinse the lentils in a colander, and then add them to a large mixing bowl.
Next, along with the cooked lentils, add the grated carrot, chopped carrot tops (only if you could find fresh organic carrots with the tops on, otherwise just substitute with more parsley) and fresh parsley, as well as the chili powder, ground cumin, ground cayenne, and sea salt and black pepper.
Then, in a medium bowl, whisk together the tahini, lime juice, water, salt and black pepper, until creamy and thick without being cement-like. Add this dressing to the large mixing bowl with the other ingredients, and fold everything together until it's all coated well.
Serve the tahini'd carrot and lentil salad on a large platter. Garnish with additional parsley and roughly chopped pistachios. You can also store this salad in the fridge for later in the week. If that's the case, I'd recommend adding the pistachios only when you're about to eat it, otherwise they become soft (which isn't necessarily a bad thing!).