Recipe

Roasted carrots with a hummus yoghurt sauce

Carrots in a whole new light! Make this impressive and mouthwatering side dish with an everyday veggie and a good choice of seasonings, and be sure to impress your guests. It’s really easy and the sweetness of roasted carrots, with the earthiness of cumin seeds and the creamy hummus dressing is perfectly rounded off with juicy, sweet pomegranate rubies and peppery rocket leaves. Enjoy this side dish warm or at room temperature with any protein of your choice. You can use shop-bought hummus or make your own via the link in the ingredients list below, or use it with any of the hummus recipes on my website, as the base for the dressing.

 Serves 6

Recipe developed for the Pomegranate Association of South Africa

Ingredients

Carrots

250 g small or baby carrots, whole

250 g medium carrots, peeled and quartered lengthwise

1 clove of garlic, sliced

20 ml (4 tsp) olive oil

5 ml (1 tsp) cumin seeds

7,5 ml (½ tbsp) honey or soft brown sugar

handful of wild rocket or mint leaves for garnish

Hummus yoghurt sauce

60 ml (¼ cup) shop-bought or homemade hummus

30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil

60 ml (¼ cup) plain yoghurt

15 ml (1 tbsp) milk

pepper to taste

125 ml (½ cup) pomegranate rubies

Method

1. Carrots: Preheat oven to 200 °C. Place all the ingredients, except the rocket or mint, in a large mixing bowl and mix to coat the carrots with the oil mixture.
2. Place carrots on a large baking tray lined with baking paper. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and just cooked through. Note: the cooking time will depend on size of the carrots.
3. Sauce: Mix all the ingredients together, except the pomegranate rubies and season to taste.
4. Serve roasted carrots warm or at room temperature with rocket leaves, the sauce and sprinkle with pomegranate rubies.

Photo by Adel Ferreira.