Mixed Vegetable Curry/Bhaji 1, North Indian
Mixed vegetable Sabji 1
Mamta Gupta
This is a colourful dish and can be different each time you make it. I have given a few examples here, but make it with whatever you have in your vegetable basket or garden. You can make it with a packet of mixed, frozen vegetables, which will take less time to cook. For obvious reasons, this dish never looks or tastes the same twice. Some ideas are given below, also see pictures.
Serves 4
Ingredients
300 gm. mix of any vegetables of choice *see below*
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped (optional)
1 inch piece ginger peeled and thinly sliced
1-2 green chillies, chopped roughly (optional)
2-3 tbsp. cooking oil. Mustard or olive oil is good, but you can use any cooking oil of choice
1 tsp. cumin seeds (use nigella seeds/mustard seeds or Panch Pooran/Phoran for a different flavour
A pinch of asafoetida powder or hing
1 dry red chilli, broken up
1 tsp. coriander powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
1/4 tsp. chilli powder, adjusted to taste. Omit it if you are using green chillies.
1 1/2 tsp. salt, adjusted to taste
1 tbsp. hot lime or mango pickle in oil, mashed or juice of half a lemon or 1 tsp. amchoor (dry mango powder)
1/2 tsp. Garam Masala
*Vegetable combinations; You can mix 3-4 of any vegetables you have; green/red peppers, carrots, potatoes/new potato, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, red or green tomatoes, sliced onions, spinach leaves and tender stalks, corn, aubergine, pumpkin & so on.
Instructions
Wash and prepare vegetables. Small chunks are best.
Heat oil in a wok or karahi. Add cumin, or other seeds of choice, and asafoetida powder and wait for seeds to splutter.
Add broken up chilli, ginger, garlic and fry for 10-15 seconds.
Add prepared vegetables, salt and all the spices, except garam masala. You don’t need to pre-fry the spices (it is easy to burn them in hot oil when added before vegetables), they will cook with the vegetables perfectly well.
Stir fry for a minute or two, until vegetables are well coated with spices. Lower the heat to low-medium. Cover and cook until tender, stirring from time to time. If vegetables are fresh, you don’t usually need to add any water during cooking. They release enough of their own.
Stir in lemon/mango pickle or lemon juice or amchoor.
Adjust salt/chillies after tasting and stir fry on high for a minute or two, until the vegetables look shiny.
Turn heat off.
Serve hot with Chapatties or Plain Paratha.
Notes
Selecting correct heat comes with practice, trial and error. It should be simmering very gently, otherwise vegetables may 'catch'. If you need to add water while cooking, sprinkle 1-2 tbsp. at a time. This will prevent vegetables from going soggy from overcooking in your attempt to dry off the excess water.
You can add a tablespoon of dry-fried besan or Bengal gram flour along with the spices.
