C is for Carrots

Carrots brighten up the produce area of any small green grocer. You've got your dull, leathery beets beside the matte skin of baskets of green beans; you have your various shades of green in a spread of broccoli, endive, frisee, kale, bok choy, leaf lettuces, fresh herbs, brussel sprouts, cabbage, artichokes and green onions and then you see a splash of colour, not just any colour, but ORANGE, and boy does the carrot wear it proudly (not many people can, you see).

The carrot is a colourful, fleshy, undivided taproot full of Vitamins A and C with a blend of sugar and carbohydrates balanced enough to make it one of the most widely cultivated root crops on earth. My family has always had vegetable gardens but I can't remember a time when we had a good crop of carrots. They are a favourite of rabbits and deer and they never seem to grow into full maturation making the ones I inevitably pull small and round. They are also plentiful and fairly cheap in supermarkets so I stick to the bulk baskets with the fresh, oddly shaped carrots that are intensely sweet and hearty compared to the baby carrots that are too young to hold enough flavour and often more watery than dense. Carrots are generally local (i.e. from Ontario farmers and producers) when bought from our supermarkets and farmer's markets.

Carrots belie any attachment to a particular ethnic style of cooking; they are instead a universal vegetable having originated in Turkey and Afghanistan, cultivated in Russia in order to feed the Revolution, and, currently, one of China's main crops. It also happens to be a year round vegetable adding a sense of seasonal touch to dishes from Indian Dahls and Vietnamese spring rolls to summer salads like coleslaw. One of my (and numerous others that I cook for!) favourite salad is made with carrots and cabbage enhanced by mint and cilantro and seasoned with lemon and tamari with both fresh garlic and fresh ginger.

4 cups shredded carrots
4 cups shredded cabbage
handful of mint leaves and cilantro leaves chopped or torn into small pieces
2 Tbsp minced peeled fresh gingerroot
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 Tbsp tamari
juice of 2 lemons
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 cup canola/olive oil
coarse salt
cracked pepper to taste

Combine the middle 7 ingredients in a blender and pour over the slaw. Toss with sesame seeds and the salt and pepper. Add the fresh herbs and combine just before serving.

Comments

[Esther]

Carrots go just perfect with lemon juice and therefore doubling them with tamarind juice will be abit too much. You had an option to make it a bit hot with jalapenos or a parika sauce instead of cracked peppers. the best herb to go with carrot is something rooty like parsley or smooth as basil.

However with mayonnaise the above recipe is perfect for a sandwich or tortilla filler.

[daphne]

I used tamari (for its subtle flavour and saltiness) NOT tamarind juice. And paprika doesn't go very well with sesame oil. Overall, I found the response with this salad best with the combination of mint and cilantro finely chopped due to the slightly Asian influence in the dressing as well as the fact that it was split between carrots and cabbage. I find a lot of people have an aversion to parsley interestingly enough but not so much to the hint of mint.

[Jane]

I really enjoy reading your posts, I will give this one a try, thanks.