Three Cheers For Carrots

When Maa came over with 5kgs of seasonal red carrots urging me to make Gajjar ka Halwa, I knew I had to come up with an innovative escape route. I am not too fond of sweets and thoughts of carrot pickle and carrot chutneys filled my head when I saw big piles of carrots come out of her bag.

I remember eating carrot chutney with moong dosas long ago and so I immediately started looking up for a recipe on that (which was fairly easy to find). No matter how flavorful this South Indian chutney turned out, I was still looking at a pile of remaining carrots on the counter. So I went back looking for something with a tangy twist on the carrots when I found my second recipe. Reminiscent of the ever-awesome “aam ka murraba”, this chutney had wonderful aromas going in my kitchen. 

 Very happy with my two creations, I started clearing up, but on one end were two big beautiful red/orange bowls of chutney and on the other end was yet another, smaller pile of carrots. Typically when I run out of ideas, I always try bringing in some capsicums. And yet again, it worked as I whirred up the remaining carrots in an impromptu recipe. Here’s what I used:

1 large capsicum

6 medium sized carrots

1 onion

4 cloves of garlic

1/2 inch of ginger

1 tablespoon Habanero Chilli Sauce

Saute all ingredients except the chilli sauce on a high flame. Remove from flame just when the onions start turning transparent. Give a good run in the mixer to make a thick paste. Remove in a bowl and add the Habanero Chilli Sauce. There, it’s done! 

I relished it with steamed rice and it also went well with the vegetable burgers I made. Next day Mr. B came home to tell me we’re leaving for Goa that same evening. In all the rush to pack up I completely missed to take pictures of this last container I stuck in the freezer. For now, sitting by the poolside, next to a bright red hibiscus plant, I can only relive those flavors in my memory until it’s time to raid the freezers again.

Quick Meal: Carrot Salad with Spinach & Walnut Stir fry

Salad and Stir fry- my quick fix dinner when our beloved maid-servant gives us a miss.What you see here is Walnut and Spinach stir fry with a crunchy carrot salad. I am still learning how to take better pictures and more importantly I need to get rid of the date settings in my camera. Also my card reader decided to stop working so I must thank Preetesh, my colleague, who sent his multi-card reader which made this post possible.

Carrots are in season and my local market carries this fresh produce. So most of my salads these days include the "desi" red carrot. All through the year we eat the orange carrot. I like them in a variety of continental and Chinese dishes but our "desi" red carrot lends an altogether different flavor to Indian cooking. The salad here is simple with a lemon, olive oil and green peppercorn dressing. The magic is in the stir fry. I am sure there will be a detailed recipe for a similar stir fry but here is my quick fix version:

Spinach and Walnut Stir Fry

Ingredients

2 cups of spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 table spoon ginger garlic paste
3-4 cloves of peeled garlic (chopped)
1/2 cup toasted walnuts (roughly crushed)
Parmesan cheese (grated) [This is optional]
Salt

Directions
In a non-stick pan, heat oil on high flame. Stir in the ginger garlic paste and chopped garlic.
Add the spinach and cook on high flame for 3 minutes or until the spinach is wilted.
Add salt to taste. Lower the flame and stir in the walnut and cheese.


Have a hearty meal!


[Image: Snigdha Manchanda Binjola for Now Cooking]