Carrot Meze With Yogurt And Walnuts

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Savor the goodness of Carrot Meze! A tasty blend of carrots, yogurt, and walnuts for a simple, delicious dish bursting with flavour. Serve it as a salad, dip or as a side dish. Kids love it in their sandwiches too!

You will be amazed how flavorful this carrot meze dish turns out. All my family and visitors always praise this dish. Plus, it takes just a few minutes to put together.

What is meze?

This is not an easy question to answer. As per world food literature meze means “hors d’oeuvre”. However, in Turkey and the Middle East meze are unique tastes that make the meal more enjoyable and do not aim to be the main star of the table, but more acting like team members. Some mezes belong to ancient times. Some mezes are served chilled and some others are warm. Here are a few staple meze examples from Turkish cuisine.

How to prepare carrot meze?

So all you have to do is grate carrots, stir fry and mix with coarsely chopped walnuts and garlic yogurt. Here are a few quick tips to perfection:

• If you are in no absolute rush avoid using the food processor to chop the carrots, grating makes a difference, use the coarse side of the grater. 
• Do not add too much oil.
• Be miser about the salt.
• Keep an eye on the carrots while sautéing. Carrots get burnt or change color very quickly.
• Do not add the yogurt before the carrots cool, or else  the yogurt gets cooked and looks unpleasant.
• Adding vegan yogurt will make this salad vegan.
• Walnut is an allergen, be sure to keep in mind when you have guests.

Often this carrot meze is served with red pepper flakes and additional walnuts for garnish, I choose black olives or go for plain.

Carrot meze is generally served in restaurants with raki and fish. Mostly considered as a fish side dish, but goes just as well with any meat or poultry. Although it is called a salad it can be served as a paste or dip as well. Using as a spread for sandwiches is also a great idea.

Enjoy.

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Carrot Meze Recipe

So, easy to prepare and yet so delicious.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Turkish

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 1 Medium Serving Plate

Calories 150kcal

Ingredients

• 4 carrots about 300 grams
• 2 garlic cloves crushed, minced
• 250 grams yogurt plain
• 3 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
• ½ teaspoon salt to taste
• 50 grams walnuts coarsely chopped (optional)
• 6 stalks parsley to garnish (optional)
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes to taste (optional)

Instructions

• Cut off and discard the corners and peel the carrots. Hand-grate carrots using the coarse side of the grater.
• Heat oil in a skillet and add the carrots. Stir occasionally, lower the heat if necessary. Make sure they do not stick in the bottom and get burnt. Cook until carrots are softened; this should take about 10 minutes.
• Crush and mince the garlic. Add to the carrots. Cook for another minute.
• Let the carrots cool for 5 minutes.
• Use plain yogurt with little or no yogurt water. Mix the yogurt with the carrots. Also, add the salt at this stage.
• Add and mix coarsely crushed walnuts and red pepper flakes. These two are optional. As kids generally prefer this dish without them.
• Garnish with chopped parsley or with black olives.

Notes

For carrots; you can use the food processor if you do not time, but you will get better results using the grater.

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