Vegetable Curry

Note:For cooking any vegetable as a curry, the following seasoning and spices can be commonly used.

Ingrediants : Mustard Cumin seeds or black gram Curry leaves Salt Chilly powder Turmeric powder Coriander seed powder

To add taste to the curry, a little tamarind juice may be added to the seasonings, cooked till the raw smell disappears, and then the vegetable be added, for vegetables like cabbage, green peas, bottle gourd, beans, etc.

Boiled carrot can be ground (or liquidised) to a fine paste and added to make gravy for curries to go with roti. The combination of tamarind and carrot gives a mild sweet-sour taste to the curry.

½ cup of split green gram (dehusked) can be soaked for half an hour, drained, and added to the curry and cooked for 10 to 15 minutes. This can add volume and taste to vegetables like carrot, beans, cabbage, snake gourd, etc.

After the curry is done and the flame is turned off, 2 tablespoons of grated coconut may also be added to add taste to the vegetable.

After the curry is done and the flame is turned off, 1 or 2 cups of chopped raw tomatoes may also be added to the curry. Turn off flame, add tomatoes, close lid and keep covered for 5 to 10 minutes before serving hot. This is even better with gravy curries and it adds necessary fibre to the diet.

Mutter Panneer Curry

Recommended Season :All seasons, but occasionally
Ingrediants : Panneer cubes 1 ½ cup Green peas 100 gms Tomato 1 big Cashewnuts 10 to 12 Poppy seeds 1 teaspoon Fennel seeds 1 teaspoon Ghee 1 ½ tablespoons Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon Salt ½ teaspoon Turmeric pinch Sugar 1 teaspoon Chilly powder ¼ teaspoon Coriander seed powder ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida pinch

Make panneer as given in the sweets section. While kneading the panneer, before pressure cooking it, add a pinch of salt and knead well. After cooking in the cooker, cut the panneer slab into pieces of required shape and size. Cook the green peas.

Soak cashewnuts for 4 or 5 hours. Grind the tomato, cashewnuts, poppy seeds and fennel seeds in a mixer to a fine paste. Heat ghee in a pan, add cumin seeds, asafoetida, salt, turmeric, sugar, chilly powder and the paste. Cook the paste till ghee separates. Then add the cooked green peas and panneer cubes and mix gently. While making panneer curry, only ghee should be used and not oil.

Kofta Curry

Recommended Season : Occasionally in winter
Ingrediants : Panneer Kofta or Vegetable Kofta As per recipe given earlier Tomato 1 big Cashewnuts 10 to 12 Poppy seeds 1 teaspoon Fennel seeds 1 teaspoon Oil 1 tablespoon Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon Salt ½ teaspoon Turmeric pinch Sugar 1 teaspoon Chilly powder ¼ teaspoon Coriander Seed powder ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida pinch

Grind the tomato, raw cashewnuts, poppy seeds and fennel seeds in a mixer to a fine paste. Heat oil or ghee in a pan, add cumin seeds, asafoetida, salt turmeric, sugar, chilly powder, coriander seed powder and the paste. Cook the paste till oil separates. Then add the koftas and mix gently.

Sweet Karela Curry

Recommended Season : Occasionally in winter
Ingrediants : Bitter-gourd 250 gms Mustard 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon Asafoetida a pinch Tamarind 2 inch piece Sugar 2 tablespoons Salt 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder pinch Chilly powder ½ teaspoon Coriander seed powder ½ teaspoon

Wash and soak the tamarind for 15 to 20 minutes. Wash the bitter-gourds well and lightly peel the ridges. Chop off the ends, slit each bitter-gourd along its length and cut into semi-thick circles. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard and cumin seeds, and when mustard pops, add asafoetida, the pieces of bitter-gourd, salt, turmeric, chilly powder and coriander seed powder, and mix well. Make juice of the tamarind, filter it and add that to the vegetable. Cook covered till the bitter-gourd becomes soft and changes colour. Add sugar, mix well and cook covered for 5 minutes. Mix again and turn off the flame. If the curry if preferred to be less sweet, then the amount of tamarind juice also has to be reduced.