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Caramelized Carrots
I’m redoing one of my older recipes. Not just because it didn’t have photo directions, but mainly because it’s one of the best side dishes I ever came up with. I kid you not! Ok, that and my Asian Style Beans :)
It’s definitely not one of the prettier dishes I’ve ever made, though, but the amazing flavor makes up for where it lacks in the aesthetic department. It’s the one side dish I cook most often for my family, because it’s just so good. I thought of the recipe a few years ago when I was trying to find the best spice/herb/vegetable match. It’s so utterly simple and has so very few ingredients that I still can’t believe I didn’t come up with it sooner.
Carrots are great food to cook with. They’re cheap, healthy, colorful and flavorful. Now cumin, curry powder, thyme and carrots are amazing together – especially cumin and carrots are a match made in heaven. If you use the natural sweetness of the carrots, up that a little by caramelizing them, you have heaven on a plate. It’s a very subtle balance.
I would never tell you what to make, but if you get a chance, try this side dish. It’s a fantastic way to eat carrots and most kids will like them, too. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
It’s gonna be a terribly orange posting, though. Brace yourself!
Ingredients:
1 pound carrots
1 medium onion
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp curry powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
garlic
salt
pepper
Directions:
Peel and dice the carrots. I’m turning them into medium-sized match sticks. It’s prettier to serve and it reduces the cooking time.
Heh. Like you didn’t see this one coming! Coarsely chop the onion and grate a large garlic clove.
Heat 1 tbsp butter (I’m using the liquid version) and 1 tbsp oil. You can also use just butter or just oil. Get everything sizzling hot.
Plunge in the onions. Give them a good stir.
Closely followed by the garlic. Why does the garlic always come in second?
Add 1/4 tsp cumin, a heaping 1/4 tsp curry powder and a tsp dried thyme.
In with the carrots! Stir them until the carrots are coated with the onions and thyme.
Pour in 1 cup of chicken broth.
Sprinkle some salt and pepper in there as well. I’ve used coarse sea salt, probably close to half a tsp. It also depends on how salty your broth is.
Bring everything to a boil and cook over medium to high heat (without a lid or the lid cracked, I prefer no lid) for 10 to 15 minutes until the broth has vaporized. The cooking time also depends on the size of the carrots, of course.
Here comes the good part – when all the liquid is gone, the carrots and onions will caramelize giving them an amazing flavor. This should start to happen after about 10 minutes, make sure you’re nearby then and flip them with a spatula once or twice, or you’ll burn them rather than caramelize them.
The carrots will still have a bite to them, but are incredibly juicy, sweet and fragrant.
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Wow! I love carrots and my husband hates them. I bet I could get him to eat these. Beautiful pictures as always. :)
Just let me know when you put them to the test :)
Why does the garlic always go in second?
Case in point, when I was stir frying the other night—
I put in the garlic. The ginger was in a jar (for shame not using fresh ginger, but I often don’t have it, and the jar was better than the powder!), It took me a second and a half longer to open it than I estimated (again, for shame, I should have had it open already), and the garlic was almost burning.
The onions are a lot more forgiving, and for the couple of times you get distracted, or have the heat on a bit higher than you thought it was, it helps you not burn the garlic. Then again, when you DO burn the garlic anyway, you have to re-do that many more steps…….
Or, at least, that’s my guess.
(Love your layout. lovelovelove. Just, y’know, by the way.)
Ashley, you just gave me a fantastic idea for a quick posting. I’m going to make a posting (probably tomorrow or so) with you in mind.
I know! Nothing worse than burnt garlic, it’s so bitter. But in this dish, it doesn’t seem to matter if it’s slightly burnt.
Woot, that’s a great way to cook veges – all the soupy stuff is absorbed rather than chucked out, and the natural flavour of the carrots is retained.
*hugs*
Also, I guess with the garlic it just goes in later because you usually chop it smaller? Onions seem to have more water in them too.
Now I know about carmelizing – thank you!
And on a slightly different “orange” topic. When I discovered your site earlier this week I think, I blitzed through a bunch of the categories… this morning, looking at leftovers, I had some acorn squash – baked with butter and scooped out of the skin. Short story, I used it, in place of left over mashed potatoes, using your potatoe crepes recipe – it worked!! and I had slightly orangish, squash crepes with leftover shredded pork, a bit of red bell pepper and cheese (fresh grated parmesan-pepperjack-wee bit of cheddar mix) – served with one cup of hot, strong, black, coffee – yummy breakfast!
I never knew a crepe could be so easy – thank you, thank you!
oh…I did use 1/2 whole wheat flour, 1/2 white
and potato should not have an e on the end!
Ann, you can also do it with pumkpin! I guess even mashed cauliflower would work!
I have been making a recipe like this for years with one exception. I always put a squeeze of lemon juice in there as well. It just seems to liven up the carrots even more. I also sometime put some dill in there instead of the other spices as it also seems to work well with carrots, actually with almost any root veggie.
I made this last night as a side for Kay’s Nigerian Suya. It was fantastic. The aroma throughout the house was amazing as the juices reduced. I served the carrots over jasmin rice and drizzled some of the pan juice over it. The sweetness of the carrots made my wife ask if I used sugar. I will make this agan soon.
I made these tonight and my wife and I loved them! We also made fresh butter to go with the rest of the meal, and of course it was great. Thanks for the great recipes!
Heb deze gister gemaakt en ze waren erg lekker! Bedankt voor het recept :)
Thank you so very much for the recipe! It was delightful with fried duck and orange sauce…
I found your blog and will try everything:)))
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Thanks for posting this recipe! My mom, who only ever ate carrots out of a can with butter and salt/pepper, tried these and the next trip to the grocery, 2 1 pound bags of carrots appeared in the refrigerator *laughs*. It’s now added to our staple of veggie recipes.
Going to try this tomorrow, thanks :)
I love caramelized onions, I’m sure I’ll love this too.
I made this dish for the second time tonight, this time with a couple changes. I sliced two onions and left out the extra salt because the beef broth I used is very salty. The larger onions make the dish less attractive, but I’m a huge onion fiend so I don’t care. The beef broth also goes very well with the curry powder. This recipe is my favorite for carrots, and the dinner company I served it to loves the dish as well. Thanks!
Garlic burns very easily, and becomes bitter if over cooked. This is why it’s always added at the end or at least close to.
Only when it’s not followed by liquid fast, Amanda. Garlic burns really fast and that’s when it becomes bitter. Onions also release liquid during cooking so the chance of garlic burning while it’s being with the onions is very slim.
Is it me or is the printable version blank?
Right below the printable is a link that says ‘Click here to print recipes older than 2010′!