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Vegetable Carrot Fried Rice with Indian spices and shredded Carrots. 30 minute Carrot Veggie Brown Rice Pilaf. Colorful flavorful side for Easter or Holidays. Vegan Glutenfree Soyfree Recipe. Pin this Recipe!
Spring is in the air. Seriously it is. Sneezing and watery eyes all around. Easter calls for a load of sweet carrot stuff. For a change, make this savory carrot pilaf!
This spiced Indian style fried rice has toasted nuts, veggies, spices of course, and grated carrots. The grated carrots look like orange rice grains and look super pretty. Use chopped carrots for quicker. Use any spices you have and add herbs and flavor of choice. This rice can be served by itself with a dash of lemon or chutney/dressing or served as a side pilaf with curries, or gravy. I use brown rice in the pilaf, use any rice or other cooked grains of choice.
More Carrot and Spring Recipes from the blog:
- Cabbage Carrot Pacankes – Okonomiyaki
- Carrot Peanut Soup
- Carrot Cake Pancakes
- Asparagus Basil soup.
- Smoky Asparagus Tofu Spring Scramble
I have this thing with most brown rice. a- It just doesn’t sit well with my tummy, and b- seems to overpower the dish. I mean the flavors disappear by the time one is done chewing the darn rice! Thankfully, I did not let that get in the way of trying my own ways to use brown rice. I prefer Brown Basmati (long or short grain) rice. It cooks faster and softer. Well cooked and well spiced like this pilaf and you will be in love.
Vegetable Carrot Fried Rice - Carrot Pilaf
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup chopped raw cashews or other nuts.
- 2 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 6 curry leaves, optional
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion
- 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1/2 inch knob ginger finely chopped
- 1 hot green chile or use cayenne to taste later
- 1 cup cauliflower florets, small florets
- 1 cup packed or more grated or shredded Carrots, use chopped for quicker
- 1/2-3/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp garam masala or curry powder or use ground cumin + coriander
- 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 cup packed chopped baby greens
- 1/2 cup other quick cooking veggies of choice such as a mix of zucchini, peas, bell pepper
- 1 tbsp ketchup
- 2-3 tbsp water
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 3/4 tsp or more salt
- lemon juice and cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Dry roast the nuts on a skillet until lightly golden and set aside.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. when the oil is hot, add cumin and mustard seeds and let them cook until they change color considerably or start to pop. Add the curry leaves, onion, garlic, ginger, chili and pinch of salt. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until translucent.
- Add the cauliflower and mix. cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the carrots and a splash of water. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Add the spices and mix in for a few seconds. Add the greens and veggies, ketchup and a splash of water. Cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until the cauliflower is cooked al dente or to preference. .
- Add the cooked rice, salt and roasted nuts and toss well. Taste and adjust salt and heat. Add more salt and cayenne if needed. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Garnish with a liberal drizzle of lemon juice, some garam masala and cilantro and serve. Serve as is , or with dal, curries or a drizzle of avocado cream (blended avocado lemon cilantro salt and pepper), or with mint chutney.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Posts pulling at my heart strings this week:
Survivors of Michael Vick’s fighting ring grow old and happy.– 51 Pit bulls rescued from Michael vick’s dog fighting ring, the first fighting dogs to be saved from death row. (they would normally all be euthanized). They were rehabilitated, learnt the meaning of normal life. Some of them are service dogs, some work with sick children, they have boundless love. #onions
The Life of Tillikum the Whale: For 30 years, Tilikum has been committed to an asylum of despair and deprivation. In Victoria, Tilikum was placed in a 100-by-50-foot pool only 35-feet deep, trained with food deprivation techniques. Forced to do eight shows a day, seven days a week, Tilikum developed stomach ulcers at a very young age. She is nearing the end of her tragic life because of chronic health issues.
We cooked this dish today and it was a great way to use up some leftover rice. We followed the recipe as is and it turned out perfect! Super tasty, the lemon juice at the end rounded it up nicely!
Highly recommend this recipe!
thanks! lemon juice to finish is nice for so many things
Very easy and tasty.
❤️❤️
This is truly remarkable! Richa, you are truly amazing!
you’re too kind
Perfect. I had lots of vegetables to use up so in addition to the carrots I added shaved broccoli and cauliflower stems, fennel and a bit of lettuce and scallions, as greens. The ratio was probably more veggies to rice, plus I added cooked lentils. Doubled the seasoning and used tomato paste instead of ketchup. This ended up the perfect dish for a cold day: delicious, intriguing, spicy, rich and highly satisfying. I’ll be enjoying leftovers over the next few days.
Thanks, Richa, for yet another superb recipe.
awesome!
Love this recipe! Very adaptable. I just use whatever veggies I happen to have on hand and it always turns out delicious!
Which Brown rice brand do you recommend?
i use lundberg brown basmati
I made this for dinner and it was absolutely amazing (I didn’t have ketchup, and replaced it with a couple canned tomatoes). This is going with my favorites. My only regret is that your recipes are only for two people (very generous portions, though), when I would have liked to eat this for 2 or 3 days in a row! Any idea how to adjust the spices if I double (or triple) the other quantities? I think maybe only 1 and 1/2 times instead of 2, but I am not too sure! I love Indian cooking and I am also trying to become completely vegan, so I am thrilled having stumbled about your fantastic blog. Thank you!
I would double most of the spices except the heat like cayenne, black pepper etc. Those you can start with 1.5 times and add more later.
This is so delicious and colorful. The perfect way to use up the cauliflower and veggie odds and ends.
Thanks! Its a favorite in our house too. variations every other week.
I make this regularly. It’s delicious and relatively easy especially if leftover rice is on hand. I vary the veggies here and there depending on what I have. It’s a great end of the week meal to use up vegetables. I usually kick up the spice a bit unless I’m cooking for friends. The spices are a must.
you speak my language! more spices the better.
This is a wonderful recipe!! I only found your blog yesterday (via Pinterest) and all of your recipes looked really tempting.
I bulked up some of the quantities as my son has a huge appetite.I asked him how any stars out of five he would award it and he said five….I do too!My son said that the aroma of the spices on the plate when I handed it to him was wonderful.
Looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
Awesome! I am so glad to hear that!!