Voracious Vander

I love those nights when dinner is eaten outside, or at the very least, with the windows wide open.

When there’s a balmy breeze and the sun is juuuuust setting and all you need for a satisfying dinner is a good salad and a bit of grilled fish. Oh and maybe a crisp, cold glass of white wine. It’s the picture of summertime.

When I came across a photo of this colorful chopped Indian salad, I knew it would be the perfect addition to a light, early summer meal. The confetti-like bits of a crunchy chopped salad are much more fun than the usual slice-and-arrange scenario, and the method of mixing while chopping allows the dressing to get well acquainted with the vegetables.

I love the idea of using chutney as a base for the salad dressing. Combined with crunchy mustard and fenugreek seeds and a bit of fresh lemon juice, its jammy sweetness is an unexpected way to dress a salad.

We’ve had a jar of homemade pumpkin and apricot chutney from a friend that I’ve been dying to use, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to break it open.

I served this salad with grilled garam masala-spiced salmon fillets but I think it would be lovely with some chickpeas or some shredded chicken tossed through.

• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• a small handful of dry curry leaves, crumbled
• grapeseed oil
• 1 heaped tsp chutney (I used puimpkin apricot chutney)
• 2 carrots, peeled and grated on a box grater
• 4 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
• 1 cup red cabbage, shredded
• 2 little gem lettuce
• a handful of snow peas
• 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked
• 1 bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked
• 1 lemon

In a small frying pan, heat the fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and curry leaves in a big glug of oil. Once the mustard seeds start to pop, add the chutney then remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Coarsely grate the carrots on a large board, then chop and add the spring onions, lettuce, cabbage, snow peas, chili and herb leaves, mixing and chopping as you go.

Pour over the toasted spices, add a squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch of sea salt and mix together with your knife, chopping to blend it together. If too dry, add extra oil and lemon juice.

Serve with extra dollops of chutney.