Easy Carrot Rice Recipe

Variations and Substitutions

This is carrot rice without onion and garlic. I've used minimal ingredients to keep it simple. Feel free to stir in onion, and garlic.

For the vegan version, substitute butter with oil.

Cashews add a nice crunch to the rice. Fry a handful of broken cashews in butter along with cumin.

Mix in half a teaspoon of soy sauce and a handful of chopped spring onions just before you toss rice to mimic the fried rice flavours. Serve this carrot fried rice with honey garlic cauliflower or gobi manchurian.

A dash of lime juice enhances the flavour and adds a little zing.

Half a teaspoon of garam masala adds a lovely flavour.

You could use grated carrots instead of chopped.

Add mustard seeds and curry leaves for the South Indian version.

Add more vegetables to make it a nutrient-dense dish. Switch the flavours by adding green peas, spinach, green beans or corn. For instance, try rice with peas and carrots, the bright colours of vegetables makes this dish even more eye appealing for kids. 

Serving Suggestions

Carrot rice goes well with yogurt, raita and plain papad or masala papad.

his simple rice with carrots paired with sides such as jeera aloo, chickpea veggie patties and glass of fresh fruit juice or mango lassi makes a good meal. Ensure to cook jeera aloo mild for young kids

It's a perfect rice dish to pack in a lunch box with a simple vegetable stir fry or with roasted vegetables such as baked potato wedges or sweet potato wedges.

Ingredients

Nuts & Seeds: peanuts and white sesame seeds are used to infuse lovely nutty flavour. We have used peanuts with the skin on but feel free to use blanched peanuts.

Vegetables: Only carrot and coriander are used to keep the recipe simple.

Spices & Seasoning: Cumin and chana dal impart fabulous earthy and nutty flavours and aromas. Green chilies to give a touch of spiciness. You can either substitute it with crushed black pepper or use deseeded green chilli to reduce the spice levels.

Butter: Unsalted butter has been used here. 

Rice: I have used cooked basmati rice but you could use any variety of rice such as parboiled rice, sona masoori, ponni, long grain and jasmine.

How to make carrot rice?

1. Dry roast peanuts, sesame seeds until aromatic in a pan over medium low heat. Let them cool down completely.

2.  Grind them to a coarse powder in a spice blender or a small mixer jar.

3 & 4.  Saute cumin, chana dal and green chilli in butter for few seconds.

5. Cook carrots for 10 minutes until tender.

6. Add cooked rice, coriander, peanut-sesame powder and mix until well combined.

Notes

Adjust spices and seasoning to suit your child's taste.

You may swap in ground black pepper or red chili powder for green chillies.

Add just half of the peanut-sesame powder if your child doesn't like too much nutty flavour. Store the remaining powder in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. You can use this powder in stir-fries and curries such as capsicum masala, kohlrabi curry, drumstick leaves curry.

You can use either grated or chopped carrots but ensure they are chopped finely to fasten the cooking process.