Crunchy carrot simmered in a sweet soy sauce with subtle hint of sesame oil. Carrot kinpira is a humble vegetable dish which you can make ahead and save it for busy weekend.
What Is Kinpira?
The word Kinpira doesn’t refer to the name of specific dish. Kinpira is a Japanese cooking style in which ingredients are thinly sliced and sautéed or braised with soy sauce, sugar, and sake.
The most common vegetables used for Kinpira is the combination of gobo (burdock root) and carrot, and renkon (lotus root). It is often served as a side dish or packed into bento lunch boxes. I guess that getting burdock root (and lotus root as well) is not easy. At least at the place where I live it’s almost impossible to buy burdock root. People here are not very familiar with this vegetable.
How To Make Carrot Kinpira?
Carrot kinpira is a simple dish. You can cook a bigger batch and then enjoy tasty vegetable side dish for the next week. It will last up to 5 days in the refrigerator, or you can also put some in the freezer.
How To Cut The Carrot for Kinpira?
The carrot should be cut into julienned strips. They shouldn’t be too thin, nor too thick. When cooking, the carrot should remain nice crunchy but not like it feels it is still quite raw. Cutting into such thin stripes takes time and practice. If you are not confident yet, you can use julienne peeler. But you can also take it as a good opportunity to improve your cutting skills.
Should You Soak the Carrot in Vinegar?
You don’t have to. I haven’t seen this in any other recipe, but this is how we cook it at home. I soak the carrot strips in a water with two tablespoons of vinegar for half an hour. I like the subtle sour taste it gives to the dish.
Helpful Cooking Tips
- When cutting the carrot, be careful to cut it into similar shape
- Use sesame oil. Kinpira is always cooked with sesame oil to give nutty flavour
- Use a larger pan to stir fry
- I use mirin in the recipe, but you can substitute it with sugar. Read more about essential ingredients in japanese cuisine
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Carrot Kinpira
Ingredients
- 180 g carrot
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1 + 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp sake
- Sesame seeds
Instructions
- Cut the carrot into julienned stripes.
- Place the carrot in a bowl and cover with water. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar, stir and let soak for half an hour.
- Heat up sesame oil in a pan. Add carrot strips and stir fry until tender, roughly 3-4 minutes.
- Add soy sauce, mirin (or sugar) and sake. Simmer for a while until the liquid evaporates. Then sprinkle with sesame seeds and quickly toss all together.
Itadakimasu! [itadakimas]
