These are so delicious! They’re ideal hot or cold as a mezze dish, starter, snack, or spicy picnic addition. Kaffir lime leaves are commonly used in Thai, Indonesian, Cambodian, Malaysian, and Vietnamese cooking and can be sourced in frozen form quite easily from Asian grocers. They impart a very distinct citrus note unlike any other ingredient I know—just their aroma makes me hungry. Inevitably, lemongrass goes very well with them, but the sweetness of roasted carrot and the slightly bready caraway seeds just make this dish irresistible. Lime leaves are double-shaped, making them perfect to wrap around things for cooking. Otherwise, wrap a large single leaf around each carrot piece. You don’t eat the leaves, by the way … but you knew that, right?
Ingredients
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced on a diagonal into 1/2 inch coins
1/4 cup canola oil, preferably lemongrass flavored
Pinch of chili flakes (optional)
1 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
Pinch of sea salt
2 to 3 grinds of black pepper
Kaffir lime leaves, fresh or frozen and thawed (16 double leaves)
4 long bamboo skewers, soaked in water
Directions
Bring medium pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Parboil carrots for 10 minutes.
While carrots are cooking, make marinade. In large bowl, combine oil, chili (if desired), caraway seeds, turmeric, salt, and pepper.
Drain carrots and add to marinade. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes, tossing them around occasionally.
While carrots are marinating, preheat oven to 400 F.
Wrap each carrot piece in a lime leaf, then skewer. Repeat till you have skewered all carrot pieces equally between the 4 bamboo skewers. Lay skewers across small roasting dish so carrot pieces are suspended. Drizzle with remaining marinade and roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until tender and lightly charred.
TIP:Â For quicker prep, instead of roasting the kebabs at 400 F, preheat the oven broiler and broil the kebabs for 1 to 2 minutes to get them lightly charred.
In each delicious serving: 153 calories / 1 g protein / 14 g fat / 7 g carbs (3 g sugar, 2 g fiber) / 89 mg sodium
Source: Neurogastronomy in Action
