Another recipe in the “interesting side dishes” initiative, this time cooking carrots in a sous vide with honey and cumin. The resulting dish is some lovely, tasty, glazed vegetables suitable for a wide range of main courses.

Continue reading“Honey Glazed Carrots with Cumin”→

Equipment

You’ll need a sous vide for this side dish (and food bag), check out my blog post on sous vide cooking for equipment recommendations. In addition:

• Small bowl
• Measuring spoons
• Skillet or frying pan
• Small saucepan (optional)

Ingredients

• 500g carrots
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 200ml orange juice
• 50g butter
• Pinch salt
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• Fresh coriander or parsley

Cumin powder comes in different strengths, depending on the supplier. Add ½ tsp and taste, if you prefer a stronger taste add a little more. The aim is to add a hint of flavour, rather than overpower the meal’s main dish.

Method

If you are using a vacuum sealer to close the sous vide bag, I recommend freezing the sauce in advance. See the hints and tips section below for more details.

1. Pre-heat the sous vide to 84°C/183°F. Meanwhile, in a bowl, add in the orange juice, honey, salt, softened butter, sugar and cumin powder and mix together to create a cooking paste. Adjust the cumin level according to taste.
2. Peel the carrots and slice them to the size required. Add them and the cooking paste to a sous vide bag and seal it.
3. Cook the carrots in the sous vide for 90 mins, or until tender (test by gently trying to bend one inside the bag). If you’re cooking large carrots this could take a bit longer.
4. Heat a skillet or saucepan to high heat (stove or Big Green Egg). Carefully remove the bag from the sous vide (it will be very hot), open and tip the entire contents into the skillet. Pan fry for a couple of minutes to reduce the sauce, creating the glaze.
5. Garnish with some freshly chopped coriander (my preference) or parsley.

Hints, Tips and Pictures

1. Sous vide seared vegetables are great when combined with main courses cooked in a Big Green Egg. Simply heat up a skillet over the already hot coals whilst the main course is resting after cooking and sear the carrots.
2. If you’re using a vacuum sealer, add all of the ingredients (except the carrots) into a saucepan and heat gently until the butter dissolves a little. Then freeze the liquid, and add it into the bag as frozen when sealing the carrots. This prevents the liquid from getting inside, and breaking, the vacuum sealer.
   
3. The carrots can be sliced or chunked prior to adding to the sous vide bag. I like them slightly crunchy, so I prefer to sous vide them whole and then slice if necessary afterwards.