Perhaps it was the carrot loaf of the 1970s, slimmers’ soups, or the post–Second World War carrot cake recipes without the promise of walnuts and cream cheese frosting, but carrots rarely offer us a taste of luxury. Fiddling around—there is no other word—with grated carrots one day, I wondered if there would be any mileage in a dish similar to creamed corn, where the sweet vegetables are stewed with cream to give a deliciously sloppy side dish. There wasn’t. Until I worked backward and added spices to the carrots before enriching them with both cream (for richness) and strained yogurt (for freshness). The result is one of those suave, mildly spiced side dishes that can be used alongside almost anything. In our house it has nestled up to brown rice, grilled lamb steaks, and, most successful of all, sautéed rabbit.
Recipe information
Yield
enough for 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Shred or grate the carrots coarsely. Peel and crush the garlic, then peel and finely shred the ginger, and finely chop the chiles.
Step 2
Heat the butter in a frying pan and add the garlic, ginger, and mustard seeds, holding a lid over them to stop them spluttering. Add the chiles and then, as everything becomes fragrant, the grated carrots. Let them cook, with the occasional toss, for three or four minutes.
Step 3
Coarsely chop the cashews, toast them in a nonstick frying pan until golden, then set aside. Stir the cream and yogurt together and fold them into the hot carrots. Immediately spoon into a serving dish and top with the toasted cashews, cilantro leaves, and the lime juice.
