Thai carrot salad

This dish is one of the reasons I started becoming interested in food and cooking, though I couldn't articulate it at the time. When I was a kid we had a subscription to Eating Well magazine, and their recipes were geared toward healthy eating without cost to taste. While my adherence to making only "healthy" dishes has certainly fallen by the wayside, one day when I was still a kid, I decided to make this salad and it made quite the impression on me. This was way back before I became a fan of fish sauce and, really, Thai food in general, but it just tasted so fresh, light and different, I knew I'd be making it again and again.

The versatility of lime juice and fish sauce always amaze me, and this salad makes the most of the delicious combination. Grated carrots and tomatoes get an incredible boost of flavor from a simple dressing of lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, chili pepper, and peanuts. I'm a sucker to get either this or green papaya salad (which uses a similar dressing) any time I get Thai food from a restaurant, but I decided to make my own the other day and was reminded of how simple and good this dish is.