Korean Carrot Salad

Here’s a salad and a history lesson for you. This spicy dish is known as “Korean carrots” throughout Russia and the former Soviet republics. How did that name come about? “Korean carrot salad, morkovcha koreyska, is a legacy of Stalin's mass deportations of ethnic Koreans from the far eastern Soviet Union to its western frontiers," explains the New York Times in this excellent article.

This salad is often served as part of a zakuski (appetizer) spread for holiday meals and special occasions. I’ve had a couple of different versions of these carrots—recipes vary by household—and came up with the version below.

Method:

Make this salad a day before you plan to eat it. It needs to marinade overnight.

You will need about 1 pound of carrots, cleaned and peeled, the longer the better. Use a mandoline to slice them into thin, spaghetti-like strands. Place in a large bowl. Mince 2 garlic cloves; add to the carrots.

Sauté a small, diced onion in about ¼ cup of sunflower oil until the onion is soft and translucent. Add 2 tbs. of whole coriander seeds and cayenne pepper to taste (I used about ¼ tsp.) toward the end of the cooking time. When the onion is done, immediately add it and any leftover oil to the carrots; toss.

In a bowl, mix 3 tbs. of white vinegar, 2 tsp. of sugar, and 1 tsp. of salt. Add dressing to the salad, and mix well. You can also another handful of whole coriander seeds. Refrigerate 4-5 hours; preferably overnight.