Potatoes and Carrots Curry

Carrots, the only vegetable that I hate probably, especially when it comes to eating it raw. Neither am I a fan of any carrot dishes, except maybe carrot halwa, which I like only because I am a die-hard fan of sweets.

People munch on carrots all the time, but somehow, not my cup of tea, or rather not my bowl of carrots :) My mom always used to get us to eat carrots somehow, but I never fell in the trap. A few days back however, we went to this potluck dinner and me and my friends got together and made Carrot Halwa. There were a load of carrots remaining from that shopping round. So I decided to finish them before they went bad.

Got me thinking though as to what dish I can make from carrots, which did not turn out to be sweet, because, carrots have an inherent sweet flavor. Then I suddenly remembered that my mom used to make this beans and potatoes combination, whenever she didn't cook onions in the house, due to some religious reasons, but it was nevertheless awesome. My sister's favorite dish. I just adapted the same recipe to potatoes and carrots. Its a dry curry, which just a little tempering and a sprinkling of coconut on the top before serving. Makes an awesome side dish with sambar, rasam or daal, or even plain yogurt rice.

Moreover carrots are very healthy, good for your eyes and all the rest of the healthy advice, which I don't wanna give, because I don't want to be called a hypocrite. But even if you don't like carrots, you should definitely try out this dish. Who knows, you might just end up liking it. This recipe is specially for my friend who asked for a onion-less side dish. So here goes.

I regret to say that I don't use accurate measurements in my recipes, because for me its a matter of taste and preferences. So all the measurements are just approximate.

Ingredients

Serves 2
Preparation Time - 10 mins
Cooking Time - 20 mins

Carrots, chopped into small cubes - 1 1/2 cups
Potatoes, chopped into small cubes - 1 1/2 cups
Onions, finely chopped - 1 small (optional --- I did not use it, but you can)
Shredded Coconut - 1 tbsp
Coriander Leaves / Cilantro, finely chopped - 1 tbsp (for garnishing)
Salt to taste

For tempering
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Red Chillies - 3 (more if you want it spicier -- remember, spiciness varies with different kinds of chillies)
Curry Leaves (optional)
Oil

Method

1. Heat some oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it. When the mustard seeds start to crackle, add the rest of the tempering ingredients and stir for 2 secs.

Note: If you are adding onions, add it to the tempering before adding the vegetables and roast them till they turn transparent.

2. Reduce the flame to medium and add in all the vegetables (potatoes and carrots). Add salt as per taste and mix well. Cook this mixture covered for 10-15 mins or until the vegetables are cooked and become tender.

3. Switch off the flame and add coconut and coriander leaves and mix.

Note: If you are adding frozen shredded coconut, then cook for 2 more mins, just to remove the raw flavor and then switch of the flame and add coriander leaves. Same procedure if you are adding (unsweetened) coconut powder available in Indian stores in the US. This is to ensure the coconut powder cooks and softens.

Aloo and Carrot Curry is ready to serve. You can eat it as a side dish with rice or with chapathis and rotis. I made this with Tomato & Daal Rasam and I received a lot of praises. Adding the potatoes was a good decision, because they managed to reduce the sweetness of the carrots somehow and the curry ended up being subtly spicy to my surprise.

Keep reading guys... for more recipes and adventures !!!

FOOD FOOD and more FOOD ............... !!!

So, I have been on this whole cooking spree the last few days, mainly because I did not have many vegetables at home (ironic huh !!) and I dint have the time to go grocery shopping.... So, I had to make do with other stuff, like daal, dosas and stuff which you buy at some point of life :) but have almost not used in a long long time (peanuts etc.,)

So, I made the following dishes in the past week or 2 (recipes coming soon....... just click on the food titles for the recipe links).

Panpolo, Peanut Garlic Chutney, Aloo Carrot Curry, Chickpeas Usal with Tomatoes, Benda Sagle, Kyala Koddel

Panpolo -- This is a konkani delicacy, also called Neer Dosa in kannada, which literally means Water Dosa (mainly because its batter is of the consistency of water). Anyway, as I said earlier recipes will follow soon...

Peanut Garlic Chutney -- The bestest (I know double superlative, but still) chutney after of-course coriander chutney.

Benda Sagle, another konkani delicacy with coconut based gravy (Lady's finger / Okra -- had some frozen ones from god knows how long ago - just kidding). This was probably the only vegetable I had that you can call a proper vegetable.

Kyala Koddel (raw banana with a coconut based gravy) --- this I prepared at my friend's place -- she asked me what's the best dish using raw bananas w/o making it feel sweet and this is it.....

Aloo Carrot Curry (Dry) -- A couple of days ago, I had few potatoes and loads of carrots, which I wanted to finish off --- had bought it the last time I made Carrot Halwa.


Chickpeas Usal with Tomatoes -- Today is the last day that I can cook anything at all, because I had just 4 small tomatoes, which I used up in this dish. I absolutely need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. Anyway, this was a very easy and simple dish with a subtle coconut flavor to it.

So the whole point of this post is that, I am amazed to know that if you love cooking and experimenting, you can manage to go a whole year without repeating the same dish. I soon plan to do that ONE DAY :) Also, you can always manage with any small items at home too. You dont always need fresh veggies in your refrigerator to cook something. This is like a week's worth of dishes. There are 6 dishes here, and the one left out day I think I managed with simple daalithoy (konkani style of making daal).

So long guys !!! Keep reading for more recipes.