- A friend who's self-employed and has resolved not to stir out of the house till she finishes a project says lunch and a long conversation with me is the carrot spurring her to get on with it and finish it.
- I had a packet of carrots unusually refusing to rot even after a week in a plastic packet in the fridge.
- A discovery in recent years has been carrot chutney, made to perfection by Aunt, often recreated to imperfection by yours truly.
Now with so many carroty references and occurrences, why I could only think of papaya and pumpkin when FIC-Orange was announced I can only attribute to a moment of absent-mindedness (Aside: if it's absent, can there be a mind? Why does that sound like a smart thing to say?) but blog-hopping rescued me from much thought when I discovered people were sending in carroty concoctions to the event, created by Sunshinemom.
Take 2 cups of diced carrot, boil till not quite tender.
Grind it on the lowest speed in your mixer with
- salt
- some tempering/talimpu/tadka (2 tsp of mustard seeds; 3-4 tsp of fried black gram dal; 1-2 tsp of cumin/jeera; 3-4 cloves of skinned/crushed garlic; 3-4 slit green chillies; a few curry leaves, all fried in 2 tsp of oil) and
- 3-4 pieces of soaked and softened tamarind
Check taste and texture and temper once again if it's not crunchy enough.
And when carrots are mentioned, can carats be far behind? Here's a quote attributed to American actress Mae West, who was also known for her quips:
“I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of
carats in a diamond.”
Here's another, by American humorist and social commentator Will Rogers:
"Some guy invented Vitamin A out of a carrot. I'll bet he can't invent a good
meal out of one."
(Well, this chutney's a good meal; just swirl it in some thick curds/yoghurt and you won't need anything else.)
Dreaming of carrots? Then prosperity and health is predicted; for a young woman to eat them denotes she will contract an early marriage and be the mother of several hardy children! Don't believe me, go here and find out for yourselves.
The chutney of yours looks really good given the fact I am not a born carrot lover.
ReplyDeleteI can eat carrots raw but when cooked they have to be cooked to the extreme such that no taste of carrot remains and the chutneys, kheers and halwas seem to do just that. If I can stand the end product not sure why the intermediate stage bothers me!
we make something similar called koshimbir albeit sans the tamarind chutney. it altogether changes the taste of raw carrots. every friend of mine who has had it loves it.
ReplyDeleteDo you know that Feb 3rd is National Carrot Day or is this a coincidence? I had no idea, but I just got a promotional email today about this. And then I see your post :) Check out http://www.yestocarrots.com/ :)
ReplyDeleteLove Carrots..n carats..:D
ReplyDeleteTrail back for an award..:)
So this was the orange carrotty dish! I'm all for it. I have a version of my own and love things carrot.
ReplyDeleteI hope the health and prosperity part works out, because the other part of the prediction didn't! :D
The only thing I make every now and then (with carrots) is a thoran. I don't know why I do even that coz neither one of us cares for it at all! :D
ReplyDeleteI've heard that some amount of grated carrot can be used to replace part of the coconut in coconut chutney without any discernible difference in taste. I'm not about to find out though.;-)
But I dream of carats :) anything to say, You gave us a clue of papaya why don't you made one, probably papaya jam :) Like ur humour filled post!
ReplyDeleteBtw I made ur chilli pickle, Gal Thanks a ton that was out of the world!
ReplyDeleteYour posts always bring a smile to my face. Thank you.
ReplyDeletesounds very interesting :-) Like a ground carrot tayir pachadi (with the curd) :-)
ReplyDeleteI made this from Seema's blog once:
http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2007/06/carrot-chutney.html
Actually more than once. :-) I will try your version by steaming the carrots :)
Indo, I don't like carrot stir-fry much but I'm okay with most other things. I have a friend in whose house 'carrot rasam' is a favourite!
ReplyDeletePriyanka, I know of koshimbir - in fact, I like raw carrot.
Sig, no, I didn't know, but I got my facts from something called carrotmuseum.co.uk! I wondered if there was a physical museum but it looks more virtual.
Varsha, thank you, off to your blog now!
Aparna, :-D yeah, here's wishing you lots of sunshine and vitamins!
TBC, yeah, whenever I make a carrot stir-fry, I feel the same way - don't care much for it.
Cham, thank you, thank you. Glad the pickle worked out and you enjoyed it.
Cynthia, and you always warm the cockles of my heart :-) Thank You.
Raaga, yeah, like that, I prefer thick curds, though, not a raita-consistency.
Sounds so Freudian....dreaming of carrots means you'll have lots of babies!!!
ReplyDeleteNice recipe.. Very informative,Hey, great post. Really great tips for beginners,Thanks...Very informative website with important details.
ReplyDeleteThis article does help with me learning how to swim. here we are also having some cooking article plz visit..thanks
I like carrots too, but not stir fry only halwa and Kheer.
ReplyDeleteand eating raw and in salads. I will try this for variety one day.:)
I have never had carrots like this. It looks yumm.
ReplyDeleteHeHe!! You are all carroty today!! Great post! Yeah, what happened to the "other" Carat? Should have found a carroty carat to post!! ;D
ReplyDeleteSalad is great, I am making Broccoli today, might follow the same recipe for green B!
I love grated carrots + yogurt + salt and add it to most of the dishes I make but I rarely make any curry with just carrots. This chutney sounds interesting.. and the yogurt combination you mentioned must've been yummy.
ReplyDeleteSra, expected a carrot halwa again but I guess my 'car' is stuck in a 'rut'! Chutney looks good:)
ReplyDeleteLOL at those carroty quotes :)
ReplyDeleteYou are a funny woman! Now, I know why you read Cyn's blog :D
ReplyDeleteWill try this for sure. I'm bored of regular chutneys!
Jayashree, :-D :-D
ReplyDeleteSumati, thanks for your comment.
Vidya, yeah, it's a nice variation.
Happy, it's almost like it's not carrot.
Asha, yeah, the 'carrots' in orange were a brainwave! The other carats - prefer to spend my money on travel.
Laavanya, yeah, it's different - not like raita at all.
Sunshinemom, we love our puns, don't we? I like carrot halwa but have made it just once. This was in my photos and I just remembered.
Sandeepa, the Internet is a great resource, isn't it? Could be as inaccurate too, I know ...
A_and_N, thanks, I aim to tickle! I too look for different chutneys to spice up life!
this looks like halva with different seasonings ;)
ReplyDeleteinteresting post and bullet points seem to be the new style for 09!
ciao!
First time here, you have a wonderful blog out here.Chutney looks stunning and different.Something new to me.You can also send this to Ramya of Maneadige who is hosting a chutney/dip event
ReplyDeleteNice!
ReplyDeleteI cant make up my mind about carrots - there are days when i like them. and there are days when i hate em. I wonder why
Time to get rid of those carrots in my fridge. I now know what i am going to do with them!
ReplyDeleteCarrot chutney sounds new. Looks yum.
ReplyDeleteIam not that fond of carrots, this chutney looks good, I have quite a few carrots, I think I will try this
ReplyDeleteU never thot of carrot & I never heard of a chutney with carrot! This looks delicious & healthy.
ReplyDeletePB, yes ;) I like using bullets, but can't always use them effectively - they go and bulletise everything in the post sometimes!
ReplyDeleteNithya, welcome, and thanks for the tip-off.
Cynic, they're not very good in stir-fries, the sweetness doesn't seem to go with spices, is that why?
Dibs, so did you make it? How'd it turn out?
Lubna, Thanks, try it, it's nice.
Deesha, try it, you'll be surprised.
Soma, when I first heard of it, I was surprised too!
Sometimes I find carrots too sweet and earthy, like beetroot. This is an excellent cure of a recipe.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet those kids will have 20/20 eyesight, too. : D
very carrotty...this is something that I haven't tried as yet..carrots always and only find their way into my thorans and salads :)
ReplyDeleteGirl, u never fail to amuse me with your Oh So hilarious write ups,and equally mind blowing are the recipes here
ReplyDeleteThis is no exception,and at the end of winter when Red juicy carrots are replaced by NOT-So-Liked Orange carrots,i know what to do of them :-)
Susan, yes, there's very little of carrot left after the treatment!
ReplyDeleteRachel, try it, then! Or you treat me to cake, and I will treat you to this. (Does it seem like an unfair exchange?)
Alka, I found some red carrots here, they are in my fridge to go into halwa soon as I finish my weekly weighing session!
Have tasted a similar one before and was trying to remake.. :)
ReplyDeletelooks so good, Sra! :)
Hi,
ReplyDeleteYour carrot chutney looks yummy and tempts me to try!
Loved browsing thru your foood blog. Let me introduce myself. I am Anu, a novice blogger from My Scrawls.
Do visit my blog (Anu's Kitchen) when u get time. Would be happy to receive your comments :-)
The chutney looks sooo good!
ReplyDelete