Hver gang vi spiser restemat, lager jeg en ny salat med avokado og lime ved siden av.

Hver gang means every time. It introduces a repeated situation:

• Hver gang vi spiser restemat = Every time we eat leftovers

It is a very common way to talk about habits or things that happen regularly.

You can think of it as a time expression that introduces a subordinate clause.

This is because of the Norwegian V2 rule (verb-second).

The sentence begins with the clause:

• Hver gang vi spiser restemat,

After that opening element, the finite verb in the main clause must come second:

• lager jeg en ny salat ...

So Norwegian says:

• Hver gang ..., lager jeg ...

where English would say:

• Every time ..., I make ...

This word order is very important in Norwegian main clauses.

The comma separates the opening subordinate clause from the main clause:

• Hver gang vi spiser restemat, / lager jeg en ny salat ...

In Norwegian, it is standard to use a comma after a subordinate clause when it comes first.

Restemat is a compound noun:

• rest = leftovers / remains
• mat = food

So restemat means leftover food or simply leftovers.

Norwegian often makes long nouns by combining smaller words into one word. English sometimes does this too, but Norwegian does it much more often.

Norwegian often leaves out the article when talking about something in a general or mass-noun sense.

So:

• spiser restemat = eat leftovers / eat leftover food

This is not referring to one specific leftover dish with the or some in the sentence. It is just talking generally about the kind of food being eaten.

Salat is a common-gender noun, so in the indefinite singular it takes en:

• en salat = a salad

The adjective ny means new, and it matches this indefinite singular form:

• en ny salat = a new salad

So the structure is:

• en
  • ny
    • salat

When listing ingredients, Norwegian often uses the noun without an article:

• med avokado og lime = with avocado and lime

This works like English ingredient lists:

• with avocado and lime
• not necessarily with an avocado and a lime

It means those things are used as ingredients, not that we are counting whole individual items.

Here, lime is best understood as an ingredient name, not as a counted item.

So:

• med lime = with lime

This is similar to English, where we can say:

• with lime
• with chicken
• with avocado

without focusing on number.

If you wanted to count them, Norwegian can do that too, but here the ingredient reading is the natural one.

Ved siden av means on the side or beside it.

In this sentence, it means the salad is served alongside the leftovers:

• lager jeg en ny salat ... ved siden av = I make a new salad ... on the side

This is a fixed expression in Norwegian.

Because ved siden av is a set expression. You should learn it as a whole phrase.

Literally, the parts are:

• ved = by / at
• siden = side
• av = of / off

But in real use, ved siden av functions together as beside / alongside / on the side.

Norwegian has several expressions like this where a small word appears at the end and belongs to the whole phrase, not just the last noun.

Norwegian uses the present tense here to describe a habit or something that happens regularly:

• spiser = eat
• lager = make

So the sentence means something like:

• Whenever we eat leftovers, I make a new salad on the side.

This is normal in both Norwegian and English when talking about repeated actions.

Sometimes yes, but there is a difference in emphasis.

• Hver gang vi spiser restemat ... = Every time we eat leftovers ...
• Når vi spiser restemat ... = When we eat leftovers ...

Hver gang is more explicit about repetition: it strongly means every single time.

Når can also describe a repeated situation, but it is often a little less emphatic.

It breaks down like this:

• Hver gang vi spiser restemat,
  subordinate time clause

• lager jeg
  main clause verb + subject, because of V2 word order

• en ny salat
  object

• med avokado og lime
  description of the salad

• ved siden av
  adverbial phrase meaning on the side

So the sentence pattern is:

[Time clause], [verb] [subject] [object] [extra information].