Vegetable Korma

This recipe is just bursting with flavor and nutrition. What could anyone want more than to eat their vegetables and like them too! You can make this in a pressure cooker or a covered pot. It takes a little longer in the latter. I made it in a pot/pan as I think it gives more flavor.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup cauliflower cut in small pieces
   
2. 1 cup diced carrots
3. 1 cup diced potatoes 
4. 1 cup green beans cut in small pieces
5. 1 cup peas
6. 1 cup small pieces of paneer, fried (I used the store bought paneer and fry it at home)
7. 1/2 cup tomato sauce
8. 1/2 tsp ginger paste
9. 1/2 tsp garlic paste
10. 2 tsp fresh cilantro paste
11. salt and red chilli to taste
12. 1/2 tsp haldi
    
13. 1/2 tsp garam masala
14. pinch of kesar (saffron) in a small amount of hot milk
15. 2 tbsp ghee
16. 1/2 cup milk (I use 2%)
17. 1 tsp cashews
18. 1 tsp lemon juice
19. Some cut cilantro to garnish

Process

1. Add ghee to a large pot. Once it is hot, add the ginger and garlic paste. Fry a little bit and add the cilantro paste. Fry the mixture. Add a little bit of the milk and and keep frying the paste. Add all the milk and make it into a nice paste.
2. Add all the vegetables, tomato sauce, all the spices, the kesar in milk, and cashews. I added the paneer after about 20 mins of cooking as I did not want it to dissolve in all the veggies.
3. Add about 1 or 1 1/2 cup of water, depending on how much of a curry you want.
4. Cover the pan and cook until all the vegetables are cooked. 
5. Once all is cooked add some cut cilantro to garnish.

This vegetable korma can be eaten with rice or naan. The flavor of this vegetable is amazing!!

Mixed Vegetable Curry

Hmm...so I had the curry left over from the dum aaloo, so I decided to defrost it today and add a medley of vegetables to it.

Ingredients:

1. 2 carrots
2. 1 capsicum
3. 1/2 cauliflower
4. 2 small potatoes
5. a bunch of green beans
6. 1/2 cup frozen peas
7. 1/2 cup paneer
8. 1 1/2 cup of the curry (from dum aloo recipe)
9. salt, pepper for taste
10. 2-3 tbsp oil

Process:

1. Chopped all the vegetables in small pieces. Try to cut them in equal sizes so it looks good.
2. In a pan, add 2-3 tbsp oil, I added the vegetables in order of which they will cook. (I cut vegetable as the other one is cooking - time management.) The longest time for cooking is carrots, so I cut and cook it first in the frying pan. I don't cook it all the way as I am going to add the other vegetables one by one. So...add carrots, then potatoes, green beans (I added mine later as I had some frozen one), then cauliflower, peas and finally paneer. Add these within 5-7 minutes of each cooking. By the time I added the paneer, everything else is quite cooked. I did not add any water yet.
3. Added quarter cup water to make sure all is well cooked. Cooking vegetables without water gives them a nice flavor and does not mush them up.
4. Once all seems cooked/tender, add the curry and cook for 15-20 mins.
   
5. Garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy with naan or rice!!
(I would have had pictures but they all got deleted!!)

Cauliflower (rasaydaar - with water)

The most common way of making cauliflower is as a dry vegetable serving, which has no water or gravy.  This one described below, has water in it so it provides for a just a different way to cook the cauliflower.  This recipe does require a little time as there is some frying involved, but the result is the tastiest vegetable of all!

Ingredients (this serves about 5 people)

1. One small head cauliflower 
2. One large potato
3. Small piece of ginger or ginger paste
4. One large tomato diced (optional)
5. Few sprigs of cilantro, chopped to small pieces
6. One third or half cup oil
7. Half tsp cumin seeds
8. One tsp coriander powder
9. 3/4 tsp garam masala
10. Half tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
11. One tsp amchur (dry mango powder) or 1 tsp lemon juice
12. Salt and pepper to taste

Process:

1. Cut the cauliflower into medium pieces (don't make it too small or leave too large)
2. Peel and cut the potatoes into 1cm wedges.
3. Wash the potatoes and cauliflower with water and drain the water.
4. Take a large pan and pour about 1/5 th cup of oil. Heat the oil and when it is hot, add the potatoes and fry them until they are reddish in color. (Note: the oil can be more - it will just make the vegetable more rich!)
5. Remove the potatoes and keep them on a paper towel to remove excess oil.
6. In the same pan, add one fourth cup of oil and add the cauliflower. Fry these until they are reddish. Try not to overcook them. They should retain their shape and be firm.
7. Remove the cauliflower and keep on a paper towel to remove excess oil. 
8. Note: you can fry the cauliflower and pototoes together, but potatoes fry faster than cauliflower so you have to remove them individually (which is what I do and save myself some time)
9. In the same pan, add 1 tsp of oil; add half tsp of cumin seeds; 1 tsp of coriander powder and let it get brown.
10. Ones the spices are brown, add the ginger pieces or paste and fry it to give a little brown color. (If you want you can also add small pieces of green peppers if you can handle the hotness!)
11. Add about 3 cups of water, add the cauliflower and pototoes to the pan.
12. Add salt and red chilli to your taste, add the turmeric powder and garam masala.
13. Add the diced tomatoes at this time if you want to. This gives a nice red color to the vegetable in addition to the taste.
14. Boil the mix for about 10 mins. The cauliflower is already cooked when frying, so you should not need to boil for too long. Add more water if needed - as much as you want.
15. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the amchur powder or lemon juice. 
16. When ready to serve: make sure it is hot (although cool is yummy too!), and add the chopped cilantro to garnish.

The vegetable is best enjoyed with paranthas!! And of course you can keep in the fridge and enjoy for 2-3 more days, if you have any left over! 

Simple Cauliflower

This is a simple, low spice, north Indian type of cauliflower.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 tsp - cumin seeds
2. 1/4 or 1/2 tsp - garam masala (1/2 tsp if you can handle more!)
3. 1/2 tsp - turmeric powder
4. salt, red pepper to taste
5. 1-2 tbsp - oil
6. 1 tbsp - fresh ginger - cut into small pieces (optional)
7. 1 medium size cauliflower - cut into small pieces (about 2 in thickness); wash with water and drain.
8. fresh cilantro to garnish - cut into small pieces (optional)

Process:

1. Add the oil to a small frying pan (should have a lid)
2. Add the cumin seeds when oil is hot.
3. When cumin seeds are reddish-brown, add the ginger pieces. Fry them a little bit.
4. Add the cauliflower.
5. Add the spices - salt, pepper and turmeric powder. Mix well and cover the pan.
6. Lower the heat to medium.
7. Stir every few minutes with a spatula or spoon. The cauliflower will cook in its own water. If it sticks to the bottom or starts to burn, add a few teaspoons of water. 
8. Cut or crush the cauliflower with the spatula to see that it is soft and cooked. Cook it to softness preferred. Too soft will make the vegetable too mushy and not tasty.
9. Once almost done, add the garam masala and mix well. This is a good time to cook the cauliflower without the cover so there is no water in it.
10. Garnish with cilantro when ready to serve.

For a change:

- add 2 small tomatoes after frying the ginger and before adding the cauliflower to give it little color and sourness.

- you can also add 1 medium potato (small pieces) and/or a few green peas to make it a nice mix veggie.

Enjoying it: 

You can eat this dish with virtually anything - rice, naan, any form of chapati (roti), paratha, puri, make sandwiches with bread or just eat it as a snack.