Carrot poriyal (Grated carrot stir fry)

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Carrot poriyal is a simple South Indian style carrot curry recipe that goes well with rice and chapati. You can even eat it as a salad for a light lunch or dinner.

This is my mother’s home-style curry and I have added bok choy to make it more nutritious. Adding bok choy is optional and sometimes we do make this curry only with carrots at home. Instead of bok choy, you can also use Kale or Collard greens based on the season and availability.

You can serve this simple Indian style side dish in many ways.
Try adding some cooked beans to this carrot curry and your protein-rich meal will be ready. Usually, these kinds of South Indian style dry curries are a side dish for rice. But you could eat this with cooked millet or quinoa as well.

Detailed steps to make carrot poriyal recipe:

• Wash, peel, and grate the carrots. If using bok choy, finely chop it along with an onion.

• Heat a pan and add oil to it.

• Once the oil becomes hot, add mustard and cumin seeds. Let them splutter.

• Now add finely chopped onion, slitted green chili to the pan. Fry the onions till they turn slightly brown, for 3 to 4 minutes.

• To this onion mixture, add grated carrots and mix them well. Now add coriander seeds powder, turmeric powder, and salt to the carrot mixture.

• Mix it thoroughly and let the carrot wilt for a couple of minutes.

• Its time to add chopped bok choy and stir it.

• Cook the mixture till bok choy gets wilted but still stays crisp. I cooked for 4 minutes on medium heat but you could adjust the timings based on heat level and amount of the curry.

• Finally, add dry coconut powder and mix it well. Switch off the flame and the carrot poriyal curry is ready to serve.

Tips and variations:

• By grating carrots, cooking time will be very less when compared to chopping it. Also, shredding carrots is easy than chopping.
• You could dice the carrots finely using a slicer and make this carrot curry. You would need to cook for a little longer and it depends on the size of chopped carrots.
• Instead of bok choy, you could use kale to make this poriyal. I sometimes skip it altogether and make plain carrot poriyal curry.
• Spring onions will also go well into this curry. Try to sneak as many greens as possible in your daily diet. 
• Usually, South Indian style curry will have coconut powder and hence we add coconut powder in dry curry like this. You could replace coconut powder with peanut powder or sesame seeds powder or almonds powder. 
• Sometimes, as a variation, we add a handful of moong dal to this carrot curry. Add mung dal at the beginning and it will be cooked along with the carrot.
• As fresh coconut is abundantly available in South India, traditional poriyal will use it. But you can use dry coconut or fresh coconut based on your convenience.
• If you wish to make this carrot with carrot cubes, I recommend using a pressure cooker for cooking carrots before making this curry and used it in place of grated carrots in this recipe. Add chopped carrot to a bowl, use pot in pot method, and cook for 1 or 2 whistles. Do not add any water to the carrot, only the steam will cook the carrots properly. I usually use this method for beetroot.

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Indian style carrot stir fry recipe: