When we think of carrots most of us think of them as being orange. The variety of carrots found in North India are rare when compare to central Asia and other nearby regions. They are raspberry red in color while most other varieties in the world come in rainbow of colors. The Indian carrots start showing up in the South Asian grocery stores around Diwali.
These carrots have a sweet aromatic taste and a fresh crisp texture similar to radish. Their sweetness allow them to be used more in fruit form for deserts, preserves and smoothies, but they are equally good in savory dishes. They generally cook faster than their counterpart.
This “gajar matar methi” is a bitter sweet melange of carrots, peas, and methi (fenugreek) and is a winter favorite. It is an easy dish and a perfect side dish to roti or paratha. You have seen me using fresh fenugreek leaves before, however in this stir fry I use both seeds and leaves to impart that distinct sharp, earthy flavor. Fenugreek seeds are small yellow color seeds with no aroma of their own but when dry roasted or fried in little oil they give smoky caramel like notes and reduce the bitterness in them. They need close attention while toasting, as they burn very fast and get bitter when over roasted.
Indian carrots
GAJAR METHI MATAR( Carrots, fenugreek and peas)
Ingredients:
900 g carrots
250 g (1.5 cup) peas
1 tsp methi dana (fentugreek seeds)
4 green chilies
1/2 onion (3/4 cup) chopped
1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
1 large tomato
1/2 cup chopped fresh / frozen methi or 1 tbsp kasoori methi
2 tbsp olive oil
1tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
Method:
- Wash and scrape the carrots, dice them into 1″ pieces.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle methi seeds and allow to sizzle for 10 seconds.
- When they slightly change color, add onions, saute.
- Add ginger and garlic paste, let cook till it starts to brown.
- Next, add chopped tomato followed by turmeric and green chillies. Cook until tomatoes get soft.
- Add fresh / frozen methi . Stir well and cook this masala for 3-4 minutes or until oil glistens.
- Stir in carrots and peas. Season with salt. Mix well, cover and cook for 15 minutes until all the moisture has evaporated and the carrots are tender. ( if you see moisture from frozen vegetables then cook uncovered on high heat for last 7 minutes).
- Add garam masala and mix it well. Remove from heat. Serve hot along with chapatti and any lentil dish.
Divya Prakash
I have seen rainbow carrots in food network but not in person. We usually get the normal orange carrots. I use them for muffins / salads mostly. My daughter would just eat them raw. It has been long since I made stir fry like this with carrots. These look so simple yet full of flavorful..
Choc Chip Uru
Mummy makes this dish often though rainbow carrots are a first 🙂
A very delicious sabzi!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Malti Sharma
Interesting! I eat so much carrots but never saw red carrots in our city. Your combo sounds absolutely delcious. I always make carrots with potatoes and fresh methi but never addded seeds. :- Can not wait to try!
Blackswan
Yummy! I’ve not tried cooking carrots this way. This is a good way of making children eat vegetables as carrots are so full of vitamins.
Liz @ I Heart Vegetables
Yum! That looks really good! I do love carrots 🙂 I’ve only tried making Indian food once, with one of my friends (Who is indian and a vegetarian, so it was awesome haha)
Balvinder
Did you try some vegetable or was it shahi paneer?
Liz
I have to admit to preferring carrots raw but I also like the idea of preparing them with methi and the seeds. I need to some some seed of both.
Nava Krishnan
The variety of carrots over here is very limited. In fact I only find the one and only type. This is an aromatic and spiced out side dish and on other thoughts, I may try with sweet potatoes and see how the taste turn out like.
Balvinder
Nava, I would suggest to try with potatoes because that’s what normally people do. If you add sweet potatoes the whole dish would be sweet.
anne
I’ve seen different variety of carrots ….. the last time I Googled it ! 😀 So far , I’ve seen two different variety here , the one just like in that gorgeous photos of yours ( not raspberry red though )….. That simple dish looks so tasty ! The flavor must taste really good 🙂
Balvinder
Yep, the orange ones are more common the other colors can only be found in farmers market. The sweet and bitter flavors really blend well in this dish.
Jennifer Eloff
So happy you gave the English title as well. 🙂 I didn’t know there were Indian carrots.
Balvinder
There are not actually called indian carrots but this red variety is found in North India and some parts of central Asia.
Nancy/SpicieFoodie
Yummy! Now I have another great recipe to use up my methi seeds. Thanks!
Alida
this carrots are very interesting so is this great dish! You are a good cook Balvinder!
Balvinder
I am not able to see your blog, there are error messages, or it takes me to your profile page or it says the author has deleted the blog.
Marina@Picnic at Marina
Balvinder, that is delicious. Love it!
Ambreen
That’s my favorite, delicious combination of vegetables. Love the addition of methi 🙂
Kitchen Belleicious
great dish! love the use of the carrots and peas. I am waiting on results to see if some of my health problems are related to gluten (celiac) . I might be needing more gluten free recipes in my future
yummychunklet
What a wonderfully spicy and aromatic dish!
Liz
What a beautiful dish, my friend! And those carrots are fantastic!
Juliana
Hove the colors of these carrots Balvinder…and the dish sounds very tasty.
Hope you are having a great week 🙂
Nava Krishnan
Thanks for your comforting words Bal. Am trying to move on though the flashbacks keep coming back.
Amelia
Hi Balvinder, thank for sharing. Love the carrot color, this carrot dish look good. Very healthy and appetizing.
Have a lovely day.