It’s colorful, it’s quick and easy, it’s tasty . . . it’s a way to prepare a root vegetable in the summer without using an oven! This miso carrot cashew spread is my interpretation of a recipe from Clean Start by Terry Walters, and it’s my new favorite thing to eat. Set up a whole board with this, some beet hummus, sliced avocado, seedy bread toasts, some kind of fermented pickle, and crudités. I think you’ll like it too!
I’ve been eating a lot of this carrot spread this week, but also, Andrew and I tried a new restaurant in Jackson Heights (Queens): Dosa Delight. Yes, it was totally delightful and a great first dosa (intradosary?) experience for Andrew. I had a spinach potato masala dosa, and Andrew had chile paneer. Both pictured below (the filling is on the inside, obvi, so you can’t see it)!
I would highly recommend this restaurant, and a trip to Jackson Heights in general if you haven’t been there!
Also this week, I got to lead a spices workshop at the senior center where I work, as part of our intercultural festival. Participants got to smell, taste, and learn about twenty different spices, and then we had a discussion about how the different spices were used in each of our own culinary traditions. It turned out that anise and star anise were the most popular in the group, with members from everywhere from the Philippines to Greece exclaiming, “Oh, we use this in my country!”. Here are some of the participants doing a taste test:
Maybe doing the workshop was what inspired me to flavor this carrot spread with the Japanese seven-spice blend shichimi togarashi, which includes chili pepper, sansho pepper, orange peel, black and white sesame seeds, ginger, and seaweed. Definitely try using it here if you can find it! I bought mine from Sahadi’s, but if you’re feeling ambitious you could try making your own.
Speaking of ambitious, Andrew just bottled a new mead! It’s a dry-hopped sparkling mead brewed with apples. I can’t wait to try it when it’s ready in two weeks. I’ll let you know how it is! I think it would probably pair very well with some miso carrot cashew spread. 🙂
Miso Carrot Cashew Spread
- 2 large carrots, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2/3 cup cashews
- 1 cup water
- 1–2 Tbsp white miso
- shichimi togarashi or sesame seeds to garnish
- In a medium pot, combine carrots, cashews, and water. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until carrots are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer carrots to a food processor or blender. Reserve the cooking liquid.
- Add 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid and one tablespoon of the miso to the blender and blend until smooth, adding a bit more liquid if needed. Add additional miso to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with shichimi togarashi or sesame seeds and serve with thinly sliced toasted seedy bread, dark rye bread, crackers, or crudités.
