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Carrots. Hard.
14 replies
NeverRTFT · 10/09/2021 20:47
I am making a lamb curry with carrots in the curry.
I sliced them quite thick. Sauté for about 15 min. Then in with the tinned tomatoes and spices and marinaded meat and simmered for over half an hour.
Meat is cooked perfectly.
Carrots are still hard. Why? How??
OP posts:
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LimeRedBanana · 10/09/2021 20:49
Maybe because they’re quite thick?
I pretty much always grate carrot into this sort of sauce, or do thinly sliced half moons.
Ninkanink · 10/09/2021 21:03
I’ve found that carrots generally need quite rapid boiling to get nicely soft, unless they’re going to simmer for quite a long time like at least an hour or two.
TheBraveLittleTailor · 10/09/2021 21:06
Vegetables cook particularly slowly in thick liquid like tinned tomatoes. Not sure why.
LittleCatDog · 10/09/2021 21:16
I had this problem and read that when you put root veg in acidic sauces like tomato it stops the cooking process. It took me a few times to realise this even when chopped into little pieces. You need to pre cook the carrots. I tried cooking them for an hour once in the sauce and it made no difference, still hard. Google the sciencey bit behind it!
NeverRTFT · 10/09/2021 23:39
@LittleCatDog
I had this problem and read that when you put root veg in acidic sauces like tomato it stops the cooking process. It took me a few times to realise this even when chopped into little pieces. You need to pre cook the carrots. I tried cooking them for an hour once in the sauce and it made no difference, still hard. Google the sciencey bit behind it!
Ohhhhhh! Thanks 😊
OP posts:
RampantIvy · 10/09/2021 23:43
@LittleCatDog
I had this problem and read that when you put root veg in acidic sauces like tomato it stops the cooking process. It took me a few times to realise this even when chopped into little pieces. You need to pre cook the carrots. I tried cooking them for an hour once in the sauce and it made no difference, still hard. Google the sciencey bit behind it!
I never knew that. Thank you for this snippet of information.
I make a lot of curries, and have never cooked meat and carrots together in a curry.
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Ninkanink · 10/09/2021 23:50
If it’s not being slow cooked I usually just simmer for a few minutes before adding to the main dish. Same thing works for sweet potato.
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CorianderAndCream · 11/09/2021 01:52
Par boil them
CorianderAndCream · 11/09/2021 02:16
It's the acid in the sauce 😁 When you add something like tomatoes, carrots essentially stop cooking sue to the acid levels.
You have to par-boil!
EarringsandLipstick · 11/09/2021 06:47
You don't need to parboil them.
You were correct to sauté them but as they were thickly sliced, 15 minutes was too short a time.
You should have diced them quite finely. Then sauté with onion, garlic if using, for 8 - 10 minutes until soft.
EarringsandLipstick · 11/09/2021 06:49
when you put root veg in acidic sauces like tomato it stops the cooking process. It took me a few times to realise this even when chopped into little pieces. You need to pre cook the carrots.
This is correct but OP didn't put the carrots directly into the sauce. She sautéed them first, correctly, but they were just sliced too thickly.
72WayTooCool · 11/09/2021 07:00
I cheat with these kinds of recipes and stick tinned ones in. They are not nice in their own, but in another recipe they are fine.
Ninkanink · 11/09/2021 10:16
Yes but OP wanted the carrots to be chunky, clearly, otherwise wouldn’t she have cut them smaller...
Anyway OP if you like the carrots chunky then next time you can just sauté them for longer.
CorianderAndCream · 11/09/2021 15:41
@EarringsandLipstick ah you're right I didn't spot that she'd sautéd.
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