Copper penny salad is one of my all-time favourite summer salads. Tender carrot rings with sweet peppers and onions in a tangy sweet and sour sauce make a perfect accompaniment to any outdoor grill or barbeque.
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Sweet and sour carrots
I just love this copper penny salad. It's made with sliced carrots smothered in a tangy sweet and sour tomato-based sauce and is the perfect salad to serve alongside your favourite grilled or barbequed meat. You could also take a bowl of this salad to work for a light refreshing lunch.
When I lived in South Africa, there was always a big bowl of copper penny salad served at all summer get-togethers, and it was always one of the first to get eaten.
I think you'll love it too!
- it only takes minutes to prepare and then you just let it stand in the refrigerator overnight for the flavours to develop.
- it stays fresh (in the refrigerator) for over a week or you can freeze it in meal-sized portions and just defrost it before you need it.
- you don't need any fancy ingredients. It's made with pantry staples that you probably already have in your cupboard.
- this salad travels well. You can make it at home and then take it with you to your next potluck or gathering. It's perfect served at room temperature so you don't have to worry about keeping it chilled.
Copper penny salad is so named because the carrot rings are said to resemble old-fashioned copper pennies!
Another favourite South African recipe for carrots is this recipe for glazed carrots, otherwise known as Vichy carrots. These are not served as a salad but are served alongside a roast.
Ingredients
- Carrots - peeled and sliced into thin rings. You can use normal orange carrots, or you could use yellow or purple carrots too. Once sliced, you should have about 2 cups of carrots.
- Yellow pepper (capsicum) - this recipe is traditionally made with green peppers, but I prefer the taste of yellow peppers. You can use red peppers instead if you prefer. The peppers should be deseeded and cut into approximately 1cm or half-inch dice. This should be about 1 cup of onions.
- Onions - these should be peeled, and diced as per the peppers. This should be about 1 cup.
- Sunflower oil - for frying the vegetables
- Cornflour (cornstarch) - for thickening
For the sauce
- Tomato passata - this is sold in jars or bottles in the supermarket, and is just fresh tomatoes blended into a thick runny paste. Not to be confused with tomato ketchup!
- Vinegar - this provides a hint of tartness.
- Sugar - for sweetness. I used white granulated sugar
- Mustard - for the tang. I used Dijon mustard, but you could also use English mustard or even wholegrain mustard.
- Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and pepper for seasoning to your own taste.
Instructions
Copper penny salad is really easy to make. You fry off the vegetables, boil up the sauce and combine the two. Job done!
- Peel the carrots and slice them into rings. Wash the peppers, remove the seeds and membranes and cut into small dice. Peel the onions and dice into 1cm or half-inch pieces.
- Heat the sunflower oil in a wok or large frying pan and stirfry the vegetables gently for about 7 minutes until they just start to soften (image 1 above). The vegetables should be tender, but still crisp. Don't allow them to over-cook.
- Transfer the vegetables to a serving bowl.
- Place all the ingredients for the sauce into a small saucepan (or you could use the wok that the vegetables were cooked in) and bring to a boil (image 2 above). Boil for 2 minutes.
- Mix 1 heaped teaspoon of cornflour with 1 tablespoon of cold water, stir into the sauce, and boil for one minute longer. This will thicken the sauce slightly.
- Pour the hot sauce over the carrots and mix to combine (image 3 above).
- Allow to cool and then cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. Allow the salad to come to room temperature before serving.
You could serve the salad immediately, once it has cooled, but allowing the carrots to marinate in the sauce does improve the flavour.
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Questions
Yes, pack it into meal-sized freezer containers and freeze up to six months. To use, defrost in the refrigerator, then transfer to a serving bowl and allow to come to room temperature.
Yes, the flavours of this salad improve with standing. Make it in advance and store it in a covered container in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat it.
This salad will stay fresh in the refrigerator for over a week.
Leaving the carrots to marinate in the sauce gives them time to absorb the flavours from the marinade.
Yes, double the quantities of the vegetables.
When doubling the quantities for the sauce, take care with the vinegar and sugar. You may find that doubling these ingredients will either make the sauce too sweet or too sour. Use the amount of sugar and vinegar stated in the original recipe, and then taste the sauce. Add additional vinegar and/or sugar a little at a time, tasting after each addition until the sweet and sour balance is to your liking.
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Other salad recipes
If you liked this recipe you may like to try some of my other salad recipes too.
Why not visit my sides and salads page where you can find many other delicious salad recipes?
📋The recipe
Copper penny salad
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Wok
- Small saucepan
- Sharp Knife
- Chopping Board
Ingredients
- 2 large carrots peeled and sliced into rings
- 1 medium onion peeled and diced
- 1 large yellow pepper deseeded and diced
- 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon cornflour / cornstarch heaped
Sauce
- 1 cup tomato passata
- ¼ cup (60ml) white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ⅓ cup (65g) white sugar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste
Instructions
- Peel the carrots and slice into rings. Wash the peppers, remove the seeds and membranes and cut into small dice. Peel the onions and dice into 1cm or half-inch pieces.
- Heat the sunflower oil in a work or large frying pan and stirfry the vegetables gently for about 7 minutes until they just start to soften. The vegetables should be tender, but still crisp. Don't allow them to over-cook.
- Transfer the vegetables to a serving bowl.
- Place all the ingredients for the sauce into a small saucepan (or you could use the wok that the vegetables were cooked in) and bring to the boil. Boil for 2 minutes.
- Mix 1 heaped teaspoon of cornflour with 1 tablespoon of cold water and stir into the sauce, and boil for one minute longer. This will thicken the sauce slightly
- Pour the hot sauce over the carrots and mix to combine.
- Allow to cool and then cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. Allow the salad to come to room temperature before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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Katherine
I'll be using this salad as a regular from now on - so easy. You dont even need to 'let it lie overnight. I just steamed my carrots a bit before and it turned out perferctly.
Love this salad - gives a whole different taste to the usual boring salads I always make.
Thank you
VJ
Thank you - so pleased you enjoyed it. It's one of my favourites too!