Caramelized Miso Carrots

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This is Oil-Free!

The ingredients are exteremely basic but for safety, there is an absolutely necessary long wait for the cooking vessel to cool down.
Do NOT peek at the food while cooking!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup carrot sticks or carrots chunks
  • tamari
  • slivered onions ( optional )
  • miso paste ( optional )

Instructions

  1. Add carrots and tamari ( to taste ) to a large ceramic bowl. If desired, add onions. Add a splash of water if the ingredients seem dry.
  2. Cover the top of a bowl with a wider, overturned ceramic bowl or plate.
  3. Microwave the carrot bowls for:
    1. 3 minutes on the highest power,
    2. followed by 2 minutes at 30% power
    3. and finally, 22 minutes on the lowest power setting.
  4. Let sit to cool for 15 – 40 minutes before attempting to retrieve or look at the food.
    DO NOT TOUCH the ceramic bowls until cooling time has elapsed!!
  5. Optional: after cooling, stir in a tsp of miso paste for extra umami.

The carrots should look bruised and wrinkly in appearance, sometimes with dark spots, but taste sweet, caramelized and savory. The texture is extremely soft and melts in your mouth. It can be refrigerated for a week or two.

Serving Options

  • You can use this as a side dish or eat it as-is.
  • It is a good sandwich or wrap ingredient, goes well with soups, peas or as an accompaniment.
  • After chilling them in the fridge, they can be added to salads or bentos.

Why not use an instant pot or pressure cooker?

I don’t have one, and I don’t want to clean a specialized large, separate cooking vessel. If you were able to successfully replicate this recipe using those appliances let me know!