These gorgeously glazed sweet and spicy roasted rainbow carrots are the perfect side dish or starter to impressing your guests! Asian Caucasian created this beautiful recipe for you to eat the fall harvest in the most beautiful way possible. Did I mention the sauce can also be used to marinate your meat or tofu? TRY THIS NOW!
I’m super excited to partner up with Asian Caucasian and share their mouthwatering recipe with you!!!! I love fall and I love all the amazing root veggies I can buy at Rochester downtown farmer’s market, but I seemed to have bought too many carrots on my last visit($2 for a bundle, could not resist). I am failing to think of ways to eat up before they go sad and soggy.
Asian Caucasian is a awesome blog for home-cooked, in-season, Asian-inspired cuisine. Their blog will make you drooool! I love how they have a tab on “What’s in Season“, that shows you all the goodies you might find at your local farmer’s market and when you do find them you will already know what recipe you’re gonna experiment next. LOVE IT! Make sure you check out their blog for all kinds of yuummness.
This recipe is perfect for family since it is fast and simple. Plus you can still multitask on your stove(my favorite kind of recipe) once the carrots are roasting in the oven. All you really need to work on, is the sauce. The sauce is no rocket science either, you probably already have all you need in the pantry.
- Soy Sauce
- Sesame Oil
- Maple Syrup (Psst, It’s ON SALE if you don’t have some already)
- Lime
- Cilantro
- Ground Pepper
- Sambal Oelek
Of all the ingredients above, Sambal oelek might be the one and only stranger to you, but I’m sure you’ve all seen it’s brother, Sriracha. Sambal is a chili paste often used in South East Asian cuisine, the main difference between sambal and sriracha is one’s smooth like ketchup and the other’s not. There are chili paste quite similar to sambal that is used in all kinds of dishes, only ours is often fermented with soy beans(Chili Bean Paste,辣豆瓣la4 dou4 ban4) instead of just the chili itself.
The great thing about this Sambal Oelek is that by reading the golden label (that happens to be in Chinese), I noticed that this particular brand is 100% vegetarian, Buddhist vegetarian even! (Buddhists vegetarians do not consume garlic, onion, chive and a few other spices with overpowering scent) The brand does have another sambal that they call “Chili garlic sauce“, which I love. I think I am addicted to garlic, but if you love garlic as much as I do, give this sauce a try, experiment with the recipe!
Asian-Spiced Roasted Rainbow Carrots
- Servings: 6
- Difficulty: Easy
These gorgeously glazed sweet and spicy roasted rainbow carrots are the perfect side dish or starter to impressing your guests!
Ingredients
- 30 small mutli-colored carrots, tops on, scrubbed and peeled
Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons Low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Sambal oelek
- 1 teaspoon Sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons Maple syrup
- Juice from one lime
- ¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
Garnish:
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
- Chopped cilantro for garnish
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- On a baking sheet, lay out the carrots in a single layer.
- Whisk together in a mixing bowl:
- 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sambal oelek
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- Juice from one lime
- ¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- Spoon ¾ of the sauce over the carrots and coat well using your hands or tongs.
- Roast in oven for 45 minutes.
- Half-way through roasting, spoon more sauce over the carrots.
- Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped cilantro when ready to serve.
Recipe Notes:
- Leave the toasted sesame out of the sauce and sprinkle at the end to keep it from being soggy. I love the crunch and the burst of flavor from the toasted sesame.
- Look for skinnier carrots for faster roasting. If you’ve bought those giant ones that can feed a whole crowd of bunnies, consider quartering them. (Though they are not common at farmer’s market)
- Check out the original recipe by Asian Caucasian: Asian-Spiced Roasted Rainbow Carrots