Method

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 160°C.
• 2.
  For the almond cream, place almonds on an oven tray and warm in the oven for 5-6 minutes until hot and warmed through. Do not colour. Transfer to a high-speed blender with the remaining ingredients and whiz until smooth like a nut butter (add more almond milk if the mixture becomes too thick). Season to taste.
• 3.
  To make the vadouvan butter, heat a small frypan with oil over medium-high heat. Add the eschalot, garlic, ginger and curry leaves and cook, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes until the eschalot has softened. Remove from heat and stir in the vadouvan spice. Cool completely. Place mixture in a bowl with the butter, season to taste and stir to combine. Set aside at room temperature until ready to use.

• 4.
  Heat a large heavy-based frypan over low heat. Add the carrots and pan roast, in batches if necessary, very slowly, turning frequently for 10-12 minutes until they start to colour slightly. Add one-quarter of the vadouvan butter. Continue to cook on a very low heat, turning and basting the carrots and constantly moving the spiced butter around so it doesn’t burn. Once the carrots are cooked, remove from the heat and keep warm.
• 5.
  Spoon the almond cream on a serving platter. Arrange the carrots on top and spoon over the remaining vadouvan butter. Scatter over extra fried curry leaves. Season with salt flakes and a squeeze of lemon juice to serve.