Roast Carrots with Coconut Dahl
You might have guessed by now that carrots are one of my favorite veggies to prepare, cook and eat. I love them raw in a salad, pureed in a delicious soup, or grilled, poached or roasted in the oven. Many years ago, I went through a juicing phase, and I used carrots as the base of all of my juices. It made everything sweeter, which is great. The down side was I had orange palms and feet from the carotene in the carrots. Consuming too much of it turns your skin orange. Nowadays, I don’t juice as it removes the fiber, one of the most important parts of a nutritive diet. I do, however, have a smoothie every day with a host of different fruits and vegetables to make sure I get the full benefits of nature’s best source of vitamins, minerals and the all-important phytochemicals that are found only in plants. I still eat carrots. I still love the taste of them, but, these days, everything in moderation, as they say.
This dish is inspired by my love of carrots combined with my love of Indian cuisine. It’s also great to see that the “National Restaurant Association” listed Indian cuisine as one of the top ten trends for 2017. This is brilliant news as there are many health benefits associated with the spices in Indian cooking, and, coming from England, we do like our curries. Hope you enjoy this colorful, tasty healthy dish!
Roast Carrots with Coconut Dahl
Serves 4
Ingredient:
1 ½ cups green split peas, soaked over night
8 small rainbow carrots, washed, cut in half lengthways, then cut lengthways into quarters
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can lite coconut milk
1 cup low sodium vegetable stock
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Seas salt & freshly ground black pepper to your taste
1 tablespoon freshly chopped cilantro
Pre-heat oven to 400’F
How to Make:
Rinse the water off the yellow split peas and place them into a saucepan, cover with water and simmer on the stove for 15 minutes, until firm but not too soft, they still want a little bite to them. Drain of excess water.
Place the carrots onto a roasting sheet and drizzle over the olive oil, place in the oven and roast for 20 minutes.
Pour the coconut milk and stock into a saucepan, whisk in the garlic and spices, then bring to a simmer, then add the cooked lentils, season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and simmer for 8 minutes, then stir in the cilantro.
Spoon the Dahl into a serving bowl and top with the roasted carrots, serve with steamed brown rice. Enjoy