Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Roasted carrots with panch phoran


I lost my blogging mojo in the last few weeks and am attempting to get back into gear with a quick post about a very easy Indian inspired side dish. Indian curries have been popular in our household for many years and are still enjoyed on an almost weekly basis. On our curry nights, I like to cook a couple of different varieties to ensure there are plenty of leftovers for lunches.

A few nights ago I planned to make Leigh Drew's dal saag recipe. I've cooked it several times before and it's deservedly a favourite with everyone at home. When it came to deciding on a partnering curry I was stumped. The vegetable crisper was bare apart from some carrots and we had already eaten gajar matar (a carrot and pea curry) the week before.

After a bit of brainstorming I came up with something different to have on the side - roasted carrots with panch phoran. Roasted carrot sticks are amongst my favourite types of roasted vegetables, almost every time a tray of vegetables goes into my oven it's a safe bet that there will be plenty of carrot sticks taking up a lot of real estate in the tray. Panch phoran is a spice mix I haven't used a lot of even though it's so easy to make up on the fly. It's a mixture of five whole spices in equal quantities – cumin seeds, kaloonji seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek and black mustard seeds.


A tray of carrot sticks was prepared in my usual fashion, lining the tray with baking paper, spraying the baking paper and carrots lightly with olive oil and then sprinkling the carrots with a decent pinch of sea salt. When the carrots had softened and started to blacken, the panch phoran was tossed through the carrots and baked for just two more minutes. I figured this would be enough time for the spices to release their flavours without becoming overcooked and tasting bitter.

The combination of panch phoran with roasted carrots worked really well and I can imagine it would also be a good partner for other roasted vegetables. I was pleased to discover a different kind of side dish to serve up with curries especially as there was minimal effort involved.

Roasted carrots with panch phoran

600g carrots, cut into sticks
Olive oil spray
Sea salt, to taste
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon kaloonji seeds
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
¼ teaspoon black mustard seeds

Preheat oven to 200C.

Place the carrots on a tray lined with baking paper and sprayed with olive oil. Spray the tops of the carrots with olive oil and sprinkle with a generous pinch of sea salt, to taste. Bake in the oven for 40-60 minutes until the carrots are slightly blackened (the baking time will depend on how you cut the carrots). Flip the carrots over halfway through the baking time.

When the carrots are ready, mix the panch phoran in with the carrots and allow them to bake for another 2 minutes.

8 comments:

  1. sounds delicious - I thought of roasting carrots tonight but felt my oven would be too slow - but I am pleased I almost have the ingredients for panch phoran - now am off to look at your carrot and pea curry

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    1. Roasting does take a bit of time and patience but I am more than happy to wait when the weather is cold. The carrot and pea curry has been a favourite of ours for years unfortunately it was one of my first posts and such a terrible photo.

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  2. Roasting carrots make something that I already love even more delicious. I think I got put off boiled carrots as a kid and oven roasting is my preferred way of eating them.

    I like the sound of panch phoran - anything with onion seeds in gets my vote!

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    1. Roasted carrots are one of the few things I make exactly like my mum used to, I haven't tired of them since childhood. If I had grown up eating boiled carrots it could be a different story...

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  3. Nice to see you back Mel (although blogging will always wait for you when you need a break!) and this is a gorgeous side dish. Carrots are a favourite in our house in all forms and I like that this doesn't take a lot of complicated preparation - I can never be bothered with that for single vegetable side dishes!

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    1. Thanks Kari, it's nice to take a break when life is busy and I can't focus on writing posts. I do prefer to post on a more regular basis so I don't fall behind with reading other peoples posts too.

      I love trying out different vegetable side dishes but am usually attracted to ones that require less work too.

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  4. Welcome back. I need some mojo too :-/
    Great nice easy recipe to start up again! :-)
    I'm thinking this would make for a wonderful afternoon snack :-)

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    1. Thanks Sandy, hope you are finding some mojo - it can be hard at times and it's good to know that I'm not the only one! I could snack on roasted carrots all day long...

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