Delicious Springtime Carrots
As spring gains momentum you will find deliciously juicy and crisp carrots with their tops in the farmers market.
And they will come in all colors – orange carrots, purple carrots, golden carrots and even white carrots and so many of them heirloom varieties.
Carrot Fries
So after getting a haul of delicious carrots from the Dane County Farmers Market, this time we decided to make some oven fries with them. We washed then dried them and then without peeling chopped them to be the sticks appropriate for fries. Since carrots love a little bit of spice we went for a masala or spice mix that was little bit similar to whats available as curry spice. The difference is we left it coarse ground. Primarily we went with turmeric and toasted cumin, coriander and fennel seeds and ground them coarsely.
We drizzled some olive oil and tossed the fries with this spice mix. They went in a 375 F oven for 25 Minutes.
The carrot tops are delicious and can be used in salads or sauteed. But trust us that they make a lovely crispy addition to the carrot fries. They need to be also drizzled with olive oil and tossed to coat and they go in the same tray at around 25 minute mark and oven temperature is increased to 400F.
The carrot fries and the carrot tops will come cout crispy at the edges and hot out of the oven. Meanwhile we also had bought some garlic chives at the market. We blanched them and made a puree with the garlic chives, half a chopped avocado, 2 tsp chopped jalapenos and half cup greek yogurt and some sea salt for seasoning. We finished the seasoning by stirring in some lime juice for acidity.
To serve, smear some of the garlic chives and avocado sauce and top it with some carrot fries, followed by some crispy carrot tops and provide a wedge of lime or lemon. The fries are sweet and crispy and the leaves are brittle and crispy with a hint of bitterness. This is nicely offset by the cooling but mildly garlicky chive dip.
Carrot chips with avocado and garlic chives dip
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
Description
Carrots as well as carrot tops are baked in the oven with a spice seasoning of coriander seeds, cumin seeds and fennel seeds to make carrot fries. On the side is a garlic chives and avocado dip.
Ingredients
2 cups washed and chopped carrot sticks
1 bunch carrot tops
2 Tbsp Olive oil
salt for seasoning
4 wedges lime or lemon
For spice mix – coarse ground following ingredients:
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp toasted cumin seeds
1 tsp toasted fennel seeds
For the dip:
1 bunch garlic chives (Replace with chives or 2 pieces of garlic or a herb like cilantro or parsley if not available)
0.5 avocado chopped
2 tsp chopped jalapeno or chili of your choice
0.5 cup yogurt
salt for seasoning
1 tsp lime juice
Instructions
Heat oven to 375 F
In a mixing bowl Drizzle carrots with some olive oil to coat. Sprinkle 2 to 3 tsp of the spice mix to coat. Season with sea salt. Spread out on a sheet pan.
Bake in oven for 25 minutes
Increase oven temperature to 400F
Add the carrot tops to the mixing bowl using the left over oil from before and mix to coat them.
Add them to the baking sheet pan. Continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes more till carrots start crisping at edges and the leaves of the tops get crispy as well.
Remove the pan.
Meanwhile puree all ingredients for the dip except lime juice. Add a few Tbsp water or olive oil to help puree if needed.
Stir in the lime juice and adjust the seasoning.
Serve the carrots topped with crisp carrot tops and the dip as a side along-with a wedge of lemon or lime.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Modern Indian
Keywords: Carrot Fries recipe with Carrot Tops recipe and garlic chives recipe for dip
