Friday, March 11, 2011

Made For Each Other, Carrots In Coconut Milk

   The first thing most people don't think about when it comes to carrots is coconut milk. Cinnamon, check. Cardamom, check. Nutmeg, check. Almost anything, check. But, coconut milk? Not really. Carrots have a reputation for being sweet, which was one reason they weren't a big favorite of mine growing up. Too many helpings of mashed carrots with cinnamon, butter or grated orange zest, sent me running from this vegetable. I am not an icky sweet girl.
   Coconut milk also has a rep for sweetness and richness, and carrots are a sugary tasting vegetable and why the hell would anyone want to put these two things together? I mean if we were talking Match Dot Com people here, there'd be "hair on the walls" as a cop friend of mine used to say. But you know how all those romantic comedies or rom-coms, as we call them go. She's all kittens and butterflies and you complete me, and he's all gruff and grumpy and they hate each other and would almost kill each other, and then suddenly they're trapped in an elevator or something and all those contradictions go out the window and we see what we never saw before, that they are made for each other. Well, that's kind of the way it works with carrots and coconut milk, except without the Renee Zelwegger/ Sandra Bullock factor.
   I really didn't intend to serve this dish at my Oscar Party Indian Banquet, but I found some carrots at the farmers' market and they were cheap and well, I just had to have them. And then on the day of the dinner, I wasn't in a cauliflower state of mind and I saw those carrots, and well... I had to cook them.
   The dish I made is a Sri Lankan recipe that originally is made with beets. In fact here's the recipe for that version here. But as I learned, the same recipe can be used with carrots also. Actually, this isn't any great discovery. Most vegetable dishes can be twisted upside down inside out and made to adapt to whatever you're trying to cook. So about those carrots...


Carrots In Coconut Milk




Here's what to do:
Peel and julienne slice 2 lbs of carrots, then set them aside.
 In a skillet or kadhai heat 1 Tbs of sesame oil.
When the oil is nice and hot toss in:
  4 curry leaves
 2 Tbs of finely chopped, seeded green serrano or jalapeno chilies
 3 Tbs of finely chopped shallots
 Stir them around for about 3 minutes or so then add in the carrots
 2 tsps of rice vinegar
 1 tsp of salt
 1/4 tsp of sugar
Stir everything up again for another 2 or 3 minutes or so.
Meanwhile mix together:
 1/2 cup of coconut milk
 1/4 cup of water
And pour it all into the pan with the carrots.
Bring the whole thing to a boil, then pop a lid on it and turn down the heat to simmer. Let it all cook together till the carrots are ready in about 20 minutes or so.
When everything is nice and tender stir in:
 1/4 cup of coconut milk
 4 curry leaves
Bring it all up to a boil again, then turn down the heat and let it simmer for an additional 3 minutes.
Check it all for seasoning. If you want, you might sprinkle a little coarse sea salt over the dish, scatter a bit of chopped fresh cilantro over the top and serve it up.
   So there you have it, a creamy dreamy romance of carrots and coconut milk that will make even a fairly hardened carrot shunner (me) actually enjoy this vegetable.
   Meanwhile, the waffle saga continues.This weekend I'll be trying a new recipe for coconut flour waffles and this one has pumpkin! After that I'll be doing a give away of some of Tropical Traditions' great organic coconut flour, so follow along on Twitter @kathygori 

11 comments :

  1. WOW what a yummy preparation! Looks so delicious! LOVE it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A perfect marriage without the overdone sugary formulas.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @belinda @zomppa,
    yes, I hate gooey sticky sweet vegetables

    ReplyDelete
  4. This sounds delicious! I was just thinking what I could do with coconut milk that wouldn't be a dessert. Definitely need to branch out in my cooking more.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A touch of coconut milk is a South Indian speciality too. Ever tried it with Chicken curry?

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Shirley,
    yes, I looove coconut milk and I have a lot of chicken curry recipes that use it. We go through cans of it at our house.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kathy, I've recently come to appreciate just how versatile coconut milk can be. Actually, I can totally see the coconut/carrot combo! I'm with you on the sticky icky veggies. I didn't eat sweet potatoes until I was almost 40 as I didn't really realize they didn't have to be sticky icky. Now I make mine with lime and cilantro! (Which I can see on the carrots too!)

    ReplyDelete
  8. These flavors really do go well together don't they!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I just need coconut rice with this and Im happy.

    ReplyDelete
  10. @penny aka jeroxie,
    you know what I say, you can't have too much coconut!

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin