Carrots- The Orange Friend

During my growing up days, whenever I visited my friend, her family would offer me a carrot juice. I was not too fond of this juice but they would inform me that it was good for my eyes.

But is there a truth in it? Or is it just a myth. Most of my friends need reading glasses, irrespective of gallons of carrot juice they might have had.

There is nothing magical about carrots alone. It’s the vitamin A within the carrot that is so important for maintenance of eye health. If the person is deprived of vitamin A for too long, the outer segment of the eye’s photoreceptors begin to deteriote and normal chemical process involved in  vision can no longer occur.

But wait, that does not mean that you will take an over dose of the carrots. No, don’t do that. Eating too many carrots can cause the skin to appear yellow-orange due to  a built-up of blood coroten levels.

Many centuries ago, there were purple carrots that grew wild in the bushes with mutated versions occasionally popping up including the yellow and white carrots. They were thin, spindly and didn’t taste great. They were mostly used for medicinal purpose.  Purple and white carrots still grow wild in Aghanistan where they are used to produce a strong alcoholic beverage.

The orange carrots which we are familiar with, wasn’t cultivated until Dutch growers in the late 16^th century took mutant strains of the purple carrot, including yellow and white carrots and gradually developed them into sweet, plump, orange variety that we have today.

Having just one recipe for every vegetable becomes very boring. It is interesting to combine with different vegetables to recreate a complete new dish and one such combination that I like having is carrots with lotus stem.

 

 Carrot and lotus stem

Ingredients

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

100 grams lotus stem, sliced diagonally

100 grams carrots, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

1teaspoon ginger, grated

1 Green chilies, finely chopped

1teaspoon turmeric powder

2teaspoon coriander powder

1 cup fenugreek leaves, chopped

½ cup coriander leaves, finely chopped 

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon Oil

Method

1. In a pan, heat oil and add crushed garlic.
2. Add chopped lotus stem, chopped carrots, tomatoes, ginger, green chilies, turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt, fenugreek leaves and coriander leaves.

3. Cover and cook till vegetables are tender. Do not add water.
4. Serve with freshly roasted chappatis