Vegetable Jalfrezi

It’s a known fact that I am fond of chapatis/rotis. For everyday lunch or dinner, it’s the usual vegetabes –stir-fried or the regular daal. One really does get bored of the usual and that’s why I am always searching for new side dishes and curries to go along with chapatis/rotis. Couple of years back, when S and I were grocery shopping we didn’t realize how long we had been shopping and how it was well past dinner time. With no energy to even think of cooking, we headed down to the nearest restaurant and I ordered the first thing I could find on the menu card. (Hehe talk about the irony here – tired of grocery shopping to cook at home, we ate out 😀 ) More than the dish, it’s the name that struck me quite interesting and that’s none other than Vegetable Jalfrezi. I had been meaning to try it at home and should say I was lazy unti recently 😀

The curry itself is very easy to prepare and is pretty light but tasty. It’s loaded with the goodness of all the vegetables and if you like your vegetables crunchy, this is THE dish for you. I made this as a side dish for cheesy parathas (recipe coming up soon) and it was a huge hit.

Recipe

What I used –

• Mixed Vegetables, 2 cups ( I used carrot, beans, cauliflower and green peas)
• Babycorn, 10
• Chopped Onions, 1 cup
• Tomato Puree, ⅓^rd cup
• Green Chillies, 1 or 2
• Ginger Garlic Paste, 2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder, 1 tsp
• Kashmiri Chilli Powder, 2 tsp
• Garam Masala Powder, 1 tsp
• Coriander Powder, 2 tsp
• Kasoori Methi, 2 tsp
• Chopped Fresh Coriander Leaves, 1 tbsp
• Oil, 2 tsp
• Jeera, 1 tsp
• Salt, as req
• Water, as req

How I made –

1. Chop all the vegetables and onions into juliennes.
2. In a pan, heat oil. Add jeera and let it splutter. Add slit open green chiliies and fry for 10 secs. Add onions and fry until translucent.
3. Add ginger garlic paste, cook for a minute. Add tomato puree followed by turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder. Keep cooking until the raw smell is gone or for atleast 5 mins.
4. Add the chopped vegetables. Add salt. Pour some water over the vegetables and cook closed for 7-8mins. The vegetables should be more than half cooked but should retain the crunchiness.
5. When all the water is evaporated, add garam masala and kasoori methi. Mix well.
6. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with chapati/roti/paratha/naan.

Note: If the tomato puree is quite sour, add half a teaspoon of sugar to adjust the taste. This curry is supposed to be dry/semi dry – so adjust the quantity of water accordingly. Squeeze the kasoori methi leaves between your palms to bring out the flavour and aroma before adding it to the curry.