Crusted Stuffed Carrot

First of all I need to thank the sweet Shelly for all the nice words she said about me and for posting a Wipster interview about me! I love the idea to call the W.I.P participants Wipsters! And thank you for all your amazing comments about the W.I.P Wednesday logo! I wasn’t expecting such a big response! I’m really happy that you’ve liked the W.I.P logo! Hopefully, I’ll be able to get on some crafty creations to post on every W.I.P Wednesday!

Secondly, I’ve started a new job on Thursday (yay!) and I now have a new routine to adjust to. But I’m pretty excited as I have not worked for nearly four months.

Ok I think what you want now is the recipe for the Crusted Stuffed Carrot (that I featured the photo for in my previous post), right? I wanted to post before but have just not been able to find time.

It did not take that long to make, I don’t know how long exactly but it was under an hour including baking time, probably just 30 minutes preparation time. I made a creamy mushroom filling that was quite tasty. For me this was nice and so convenient as all the ingredients are just staples in my kitchen. So, all in all, this is something I’ll make again and I plan on taking it as lunch for work!

Crusted Stuffed Carrot

Ingredients (2 servings)

2 medium/large carrots

Crust:
1 ½ cup plain flour
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Water (about 7-8 tablespoons) to make the dough

Soymilk for glazing

Stuffing:
2-3 fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
Pieces of scooped carrots
½ teaspoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon minced/grated ginger
½ teaspoon dried basil leaves
Some finely chopped scallions / spring onions (optional)
¾ tablespoon plain flour
½ cup soy milk
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste

• Place the carrots whole into a steamer and steam for 10 minutes when water starts to boil or until slightly tender. (Alternatively you can boil the carrots until slightly tender, about 12 minutes).
• Remove and allow to cool before handling.
• While carrots are steaming, prepare the crust.
• Mix the oil with the flour. Work with the fingers until flour ressembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Add water and knead to form a nice and smooth dough. (Adjust water if required, the dough should not be sticky.)
• Divide into 2. Set aside.
  

• Cut carrots into halves lengthwise. Slice out the middle portion of each carrot half, leaving enough shell so carrots won’t break. (I found this is best done with a small knife, you can cut a v-shape which is easier, but I tried to carve mine round and it wasn’t too bad). Scoop out carrot centers. Finely chop the carrot centers, set aside.
  

• In a fry pan or skillet, heat oil. Add onion, garlic, ginger and sauté for a 2 minutes.
• Add chopped carrots, mushroom. Stir and cook for a few more minutes.
• Then add flour. Mix well and don’t allow to burn. Almost immediately add soy milk and stir well so that lumps do not begin to form. You have to be very quick at this stage. (If you are unsure, you can also stir the flour into the milk first then pour this over into the pan).
• Sprinkle with dried basil, add in the scallions, salt and pepper.
• Allow to thicken into a creamy consistency.
• Remove from heat and let cool before stuffing into carrots.

• Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius.

• Roll out dough to desired thickness and large enough to wrap the carrots with.
• Place one carrot half onto the rolled dough.
• Trim the sides. You can use these cut off pieces to make the braid decoration.
• Add some stuffing, cover with the other half to enclose.

• Wrap dough around carrot and close properly.
• You can place some braided dough decoration to hide the dough seam. (I made the braid by using 3 thin pieces of left over dough, you even just use 2 pieces and twist them around).
• Place on a greased baking tray (I usually place some foil to avoid sticking).
• Brush with some soymilk; avoid dripping it on the tray as it will glue the crust to the tray which will make it hard to remove from.
• Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until crust is a golden light brown colour.Let cool slightly before removing from tray.
• Decorate with some scallions. Cut the scallion to desired length (about 10cm or 4 inches), then slice it into 4 – 5 sections lengthwise. Leave about 1 cm uncut at the base. Then curl it up by running the blunt side of a knife along the length on the outside, applying slight pressure (the same way you would curl paper ribbons with scissors, if you’ve ever done that).
• Insert this at the top of the carrot into the filling.

Enjoy with salad, fries, soup…or just on its own!