Carrot and Sesame Furikake with Togarashi spice

Ingredients

About 4 medium carrots, enough to make 2 cups (480ml) of finely chopped or grated carrot
4 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons soy sauce (use ‘light’ soy sauce (not low-salt, the light-colored kind) if you want this to end up more orange and less brown)
1/2 tablespoon raw cane sugar or light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon togarashi
Salt to taste

Instructions

Peel and finely grate or chop the carrots - a food processor makes this go a lot faster.
Heat up the non-stick pan over low-medium heat. Put in the carrots, and let dry-cook slowly (kara iri), stirring occasionally, until it’s dried out quite a bit and has reduced to about 1/4th of its original volume. The drier the carrots, the longer the furikake will keep, but you can keep it at the slightly-moist stage as long as you’ll be using this up within a week or so. (This stage does take awhile (about 15-20 minutes) but you don’t have to watch it constantly.)
Add the soy sauce and stir rapidly until the liquid is evaporated. Using a light-colored soy sauce will help to preserve the orange color better, but a dark one will taste as good. Add sugar.
Shove the carrot aside to make a hole in the middle of the pan. Pour the sesame seeds in there and stir until a couple start to ‘pop’. Rapidly stir around and take off the heat.
Add the togarashi. Sprinkle a bit onto some plain rice, and taste; if needs it, add a little salt and more togarashi if needed.
Makes about 1/2 cup. Store (after it’s completely cooled) in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and try to use up within a week. It can be sprinkled on rice, soups, etc.