Sauted and Steamed Carrots Recipe- Super Delicious and Easy

My lunch the other day- Creole spiced fish, sauted and steamed carrots,
steamed zucchini with tahini sauce, and Asian inspired cucumber salad

Carrots are one of those vegetables that I can almost always get cheap year round, and when I can't get them cheap, I get them super cheap. While carrot sticks are yummy as is, my kids aren't the biggest fan of them, and they don't feel very "meal like".

This is a recipe I recently figured out to make carrots, and they are definitely delicious. My kids love them, my husband enjoys them, and this method of preparing them makes the sugars carmelize somewhat, so they are sweet enough to satisfy my cravings for sweet, without needing to have added sugar. I've been serving this pretty often- sending it with my boys for lunch, using it as my "carb" portion of my meal now that I'm trying to cut back on my grains, and using it as a component in more complex dishes, such as bibimbap (a Korean dish I'll share in the future).

It's pretty simple and easy to make, with very minimal ingredients, but tastes great. I figured I needed to post it as a recipe here on my blog. It's actually more a cooking method than an actual recipe, but whatever.

Sauted and Steamed Carrots Recipe- Super Delicious and Easy

Ingredients:
Carrots
Oil
Salt
Water

Instructions:
1. To start off with, you need to get your carrots really really small. That is the trick in this. Either use a mandolin slicer on the thinnest setting or grate with a grater or in the food processor (normal sized holes), or use a knife and cut super thin. I don't recommend doing so with a knife unless you don't have a mandolin, grater, or food processor, because it'll make this be a lot more work...

2. Put some oil in the bottom of a pan and heat up on a medium/high heat- how much oil and what oil you use is up to you- you need some, but can use extra if you want this dish to be more filling, since fat keeps you satiated.

3. When the oil is hot, add the carrots to the pan, and a little salt, and cover it. Every 3 minutes or so, give the carrots a mix, and then cover again. You want to do this until some of the carrots start to brown a little bit. The more you brown it, the sweeter the carrots will be, since this is the stage in which they are caramelized. 

4. When the carrots are browned enough, add some water to the pan. I usually add between 1/4 and 1/2 a cup of water for a skillet full of carrots (about 8 or 9 carrots). Cover, put on a low heat, and let the carrots steam until they are fully soft and the liquid is fully absorbed.

5. If desired, add some spices and/or more salt at this point, but it is usually not necessary. Dill works beautifully with these, as does cumin or garlic or really anything....

Enjoy!

What is your favorite way to prepare carrots? Have you ever prepared carrots this way before? Does this seem like a method you'd try out?