Stranger Foods

Photograph of Honey roast carrots with garlicky bean mash.

MexicanHoney roast carrots with garlicky bean mash

Serves 4 | Prep 20 mins | Cook 1 hr 40 mins

The indigenous Mexican diet is full of bean and pulse purées, ladled into, or scooped up with, toasted tortillas. Here I use marrowfat peas, which are a creamy and fun alternative to white beans or chickpeas and one that Hodmedod's is growing across parts of the UK. It makes the most delicious purée for the roast carrots, which are spiked with the mild, fruity guajillo chilli. Alternatively, just use chickpeas or butter beans

Source: Meat-free Mexican

Ingredients

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350 g dried peas or beans,, soaked overnight, or 2x 400 g tins of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
20 g guajillo chillies, de-stemmed deseeded and opened up like a book
180 ml olive oil
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1½ tbsps runny honey
750 g carrots, peeled and cut into 3-4 cm rough pieces
juice of ½ lemon
small handful of parsley, roughly chopped
salt and pepper
warm corn or flour tortillas, to serve

Instructions

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Prepare the peas or beans first. Drain them of their soaking liquid, then cover in enough fresh water to cover by at least 5 cm. Bring to the boil and simmer for until completely tender. Take off the heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of salt. Skip this step if using tinned chickpeas.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 7.
Put the chillies in a small bowl, cover with boiling water and soak for until soft, then drain and finely chop.
Meanwhile, warm the olive oil and garlic in a medium pan and simmer over a very low heat for until fragrant, but the garlic has not coloured. Scoop 60 ml of garlicky oil into a bowl and add the chopped chillies and honey and season generously. Blitz to a purée with a hand blender - do not worry that some of the chilli skin won't purée.
Put the carrots on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and tumble them in the chilli oil. Roast in the oven for , stirring once, until the carrots are sticky and a little crisp on the edges.
Meanwhile, blitz the cooked peas or chickpeas with a hand blender with the remaining garlic oil and any water needed to create a nice loose purée, about the consistency of a loose mash. Return to the pan and heat through. Squeeze in the lemon juice and taste, adjusting the seasoning if necessary.
Once the carrots are cooked, serve them on top of the warm pea purée, scattered with the parsley and with warm tortillas for scooping it all up.

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