Carrot Poriyal

Carrot poriyal/dry curry is one of the poriyals I learned from my grandma when I was younger. This poriyal can be made in a jiffy which is why she would make it time and again when guests arrived unannounced :).

Many people avoid using carrots by itself in poriyals because of it’s inherent sweet taste. However, cooking the carrots using this method makes the poriyal a must-have combination with rasam and sambar.

Desika Products:

Peanut Oil, Urad Dal

RECIPE FOR CARROT PORIYAL

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Carrots - 4 cups - chopped into tiny cubes

Onion - 1 - medium sized

Red Chilies - 5-6

Oil - 1 tblsp

Salt - as needed

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad Dal - 2 tsp

Dry Coconut Flakes - 1 tblsp

Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

Instructions:

1. Peel the carrots and cut into tiny cubes. Make sure you have 4 cups as mentioned in the ingredients list.

2. Heat up oil in a thick-bottomed kadai and add mustard seeds. Once they sputter, break 2-3 red chilies and add them.

3. Add the urad dal to this and saute until the dal turns golden brown.

4. Add curry leaves and finely chopped onions and saute for 1 min. Add salt and saute again.

5. At this point, add the carrots and mix it thoroughly. Cover with a lid and allow it steam cook on medium flame, stirring every 5 mins. If necessary, add 1 tblsp of water while steam cooking.

6. While it is steam cooking, in a mixie jar add the remaining red chilies.

7. Grind this into a fine powder.

8. Next, add the dry coconut flakes to the jar and grind it just enough so that the coconut flakes are still chunky and have mixed completely with the ground red chili.

9. Add this to the carrots and make sure it is mixed in thoroughly.

10. Continue to steam cook the carrots until they become soft or crunchy, to your satisfaction. Carrot poriyal is ready!

Tips & Tricks:

• If you don’t want to spend too much time steam cooking the carrots, steam them for 5 mins before hand.