Carrot-Coconut Rice

I can't believe it's December already and in few short days we will be in a brand new year. Today we begin 23rd edition of Blogging Marathon and my theme for this week is "Cooking with Carrots". 

I like carrots and I add them to rice dishes and mix them with other veggies to make curries, pasta sauces etc. But when I think about it, I don't usually make dishes only with carrots. So when I saw this theme, I thought of trying dishes that highlight and have carrots as the main ingredient.

For the first day, I made this carrot and coconut rice. Inspiration for this dish came from one of the cooking shows on Etv. 

Ingredients:

Carrots - 2 medium, grated

Coconut - ½cup, grated
Rice - 3 cups, cooked
Green chilies - 4, slit
Ginger - 1" piece, finely grated
Salt - to taste
Cashews - few

For Masala Paste:
Sesame seeds - 3tbsp
Peanuts - 3tbsp, roasted
Coriander seeds - 2tbsp

For Tempering:
Chana dal - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1tsp
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1tsp
Dry red chilies - 2
Curry leaves - 8

Method:

• Make the masala paste: Grind the 3 ingredients under masala paste. Keep aside.
• Heat 2tbsp oil in a large saute pan, add the tempering ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter, add cashews, green chilies and ginger. Cook until ginger starts to smell fragrant.
• Next add the grated carrot and cook for 3-4 minutes or until carrots don't smell raw anymore. Add the coconut, salt and the ground masala paste. Mix well and cook for 5 minutes on low flame.
• Add cooked rice and mix well. Cook covered for 2 minutes for the flavors to mingle. Serve hot with potato chips.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked for the first day of BM# 23.