Spicy Carrot Dip

This Moroccan(ish) dip is simple to make, and extremely tasty. The inspiration for it came from a wonderful recipe on Serious Eats. I used much the same method, but the ingredients suffered from the changes wrought by my penchant for randomly changing every recipe I "follow" just to see what happens.

Ingredients:

• 6 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 bay leaf, stem removed
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 3 cloves* garlic, crushed
• 3 cm length of fresh ginger, grated
• 1/4 cup stuffed† green olives
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp tomato paste

Directions:

• Place honey and salt in a saucepan, then add carrots and top up with 1cm water (note: carrots are not covered). Cover and bring to a low boil, then leave uncovered at a gentle simmer, stirring frequently, for ~15 minutes.
• While carrots are cooking, grind cumin, coriander, fennel and bay leaf using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder
• When the liquid has evaporated and the honey starts to caramelise, remove the pan from the heat and immediately add 1/2 C cold water so the carrots don't burn. Transfer carrots and all ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth.

* I use one of the purple-striped varieties of garlic that are finally becoming readily available in Australia. They're a powerfully flavoured garlic, and have large cloves. If I can't find any, my substitute for 1 clove of purple-striped is: 2-3 cloves Chinese/white/bleached garlic (the name varies, but it's the cheap, white garlic in most supermarkets) or 1/2 tbsp crushed garlic from a jar (yes, it does happen sometimes).

† All I had in the house was a jar of capsicum-stuffed green olives, but any pitted green olives would work.