I play with my food.
Problem is - well I’ve not yet had anything that didn’t turn out well. Some better than others certainly but too I play because there’s a) what I have left or on hand and b) what’s on sale (or just plain cheap by the lb. a+b wind up being the ingredients). Problem is over the last year I’ve made some seriously good stuff but I just don’t write any of it down and some rather good recipes keep disappearing that way and this one at least I don’t want to get lost.
The holy trinity in western cooking is : garlic, onion and green pepper all sautéed together and are the base for everything from tacos to western omelets to lasagna and various stews and casseroles.
Recently though I came across the eastern holy trinity: garlic, onion and ginger. Being the end of the month and down to root vegetables I came to the following recipe- and the cayenne pepper was in that wrinkly stage so something had to happen with it and soon.
There are two carrot recipes here: one my mother’s and one my own.
Am I having a cook off versus myself and a dead woman?
Perhaps.
However I never ‘got’ her thing with this carrot recipe. It was supposedly a special holiday thing but I never thought it was all that good- it‘s not bad and people would comment on the carrots probably just because the most exotic thing they‘d seen or had done to carrots at that point was tossing them with peas.
So whose recipe to put on top?
I gotta go with mine simply because I actually like it and don’t want to forget it…that and I never really ‘got’ her carrots.
Eastern Holy Trinity Carrots
Ingredients= fresh on everything (ie: no paste, no powder, no frozen or canned veggies)
Grapeseed oil
2-4 Large Vidalia Onions: chopped (abt. 2 cups)
5 - 6 Large garlic cloves (between an 1/8 c. and below a ¼ c): between chopped - minced (smaller than onion pieces)
¼-1/3c fresh ginger chopped-minced finer than the garlic
1&1/2- 2lbs fresh carrots coarsely shredded (abt. 5- 6 cups)
½ -1 Tablespoon. finely shredded ginger
1/8-1/16 teaspoon finely minced fresh cayenne pepper (warning+ tip: when handling peppers like this one that have heat apply oil to hands so as not to hurt self. Remove seeds. Mince and be aware the heat is on your hands until washed with soapy water)
11/2-3c precooked Garbanzo beans (beans freeze well, are way cheaper if you buy dry and do the soak, boil and freeze + you know there hasn’t been anything in there living with them Garbanzos maintain that nutty flavor better if you make your own. Plus if you’re not poor- but po‘ -it can save a good twenty dollars a month. Which when you‘re po‘ is a big chunk of change.)
Fresh Basil chopped into fine strands (optional because if you don’t grow your own it can be pricey but it really gives a nice end note. Basil’s the easiest weed to grow and I can‘t figure out why everyone doesn‘t)
Note to self: try with side of anise infused jasmine rice. T coconut milk and some diced banana (dessert and protein rounder all in one)
There is some prep work and if you have cuisinart: rejoice! If not - even those people will need most of the following:
Equipment:
Large cutting board
Sharp Knife
Large bowl (for stowing all that shredded carrot)
Wooden flat base spoon
Large Skillet
Standing shredder device (or cuisinart)
Heat oil in skillet at abt. Med High- High. Add garlic - do not at any point allow anything to brown. (1 minute- stirring about) Add chopped ginger reserving finely shredded ginger. (1 minute- stirring about) Add onion and tsp. salt. Reduce heat OR remove entirely cover and use slow cook method while shredding carrots. Stir routinely - return to heat as necessary and when onions are very opaque and no crunch add carrots. Stir and cook over medium- medium high heat until the shredded carrot begins brightening. Add Garbanzo beans, finely shredded ginger and finely minced cayenne pepper. Allow the Garbanzos to be fully warmed through during the stir and tossing over the current flame. (OR Can cook low - medium covered and just leave for a bit.) Add more salt if desired. Put in bowl and then sprinkle with fresh basil threads.
It’s fantastic.+ The recipe keeps for a good three to four days.
Martha’s Holiday Carrots…which I never ‘got’
Hmmm. Not in the book. It was easy: carrots cut in the round cooked in butter and Tablespoon of dried peppermint with honey. The carrots are stewed in the butter, honey peppermint mixture? I think they were steamed before hand- yeah and then added to a low heat mixture of butter, honey and dried peppermint leaves probably with a touch of salt…though Martha used hydrogenated Blue Bonnet for better baked goods. Also perhaps because she had her first binge at about 3 or so: a lb of butter in one sitting. So she never cooked with butter. A fact to which I may owe my life…or at least a few extra days of school.
