Wok-seared zucchini and carrots
A quick, easy side dish that melds the silkiness of zucchini with the crunch of carrots
Recipe type: Side Dish
Cuisine: Fusion
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 3 mins
Total time: 13 mins
Serves: 3
Lately I’ve come to realise that the best thing to do with carrots is to blanch them: rather than boiling them until they become limp, blanching allows their full crunchiness and flavour to come through. It’s fast, easy, and does interesting things with texture in the finished dish.
Here is a simple recipe that takes full advantage of the carrots’ crunch: julienned zucchini and carrots, seared in a wok.
(also, if you want to know how to julienne carrots? This post by Wandering Chopsticks changed my life. Basically, cut them diagonally instead of straight, and you’ll have much fewer cuts to your digits–I know my knife always slipped sooner or later when julienning carrots. Also works with the zucchini, though I found I preferred to cut them straight because it’s easy).
- 3 medium carrots
- 2 zucchini
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 quarter-sized pieces of ginger
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
- Julienne the carrots and the zucchini into thick match-stick size. Put the carrots in a large bowl.
- Boil some water, and pour over the carrots. Leave to rest for 30s-1min, then fish out the carrots and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat up a wok with the oil and the ginger slices, until fragrant. Tumble the zucchini into the oil, give them a good whirl (30s or so). Put half the salt over the zucchini, mix well. Then add the carrots, the rest of the salt, and mix well. Taste and adjust salt levels.
- Take off the heat and serve.
