Carrot Top Sesame Stir-Fry


A bunch of carrots with bushy, crispy greens arrived in our CSA box. I’ve learned that whenever the box arrives, the soft, leafy greens need to be used first.

Carrot tops are interesting. They taste a little bit like carrots, or maybe like carrots smell. Their stems are long and light green and can sometimes be fibrous. Their leaves are darker green and work well in pestos. But overall, the flavor of carrot tops is mild, so it’s good to prepare them with other flavors that will boost them a bit. I wanted to do something with these carrot tops that wasn’t pesto, so I settled on a stir-fry with scallion and sesame. There is something about carrot greens that makes me think of sesame, but I haven’t yet figured out why.

To try and curb the fibrousness of the carrot stems, I blanched the tops before putting them in the wok with noodles and scallions, and tossing everything in a mixture of chicken stock, ketjap manis, and sesame oil. Strips of raw carrot made with a vegetable peeler made a nice topping together with toasted sesame seeds.

And that’s it for this plug for using all the odds and ends of your vegetables. I chose the simple route of letting the carrot tops be the main ingredient, but you could use carrot tops as just one of many vegetables as well. Good taste, less waste.

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