Best Mix Veg Recipe | Easy Mix Veg Masala Recipe | मिक्स - वेज मसाला | आसान मिक्स वेज सब्जी |Mix Veg Sabjee

Mix-Veg Sabjee, as the name suggests is an Indian preparation that allows you to mix many of the vegetables together. This gives you the freedom to choose the vegetables of your liking. You may choose the vegetables you like for taste or you may choose the ones you like for their nutritional value. Here I am going to mix them both.

As you can see it looks quite colorful. Science says that colors in vegetables come mostly from vitamins and minerals, I guess adding more colors means adding more nutrients to your food.

Recipe:
Watch this Youtube video for a visual recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Bell Peppers (Red, Green and Yellow) : 1 each
2. Paneer (Cottage Cheese) : 100 grams
3. Onions : 2 medium size (chopped)
4. Tomatoes : 2 medium size 
5. Fresh Peas : 1 cup
6. Green chilis : 2 
7. Cumin Seeds (Jira) : 1 tsp
8. Masala Mix (Kitchen King/ Chicken Masala) : 2 tsb
9. Mango Powder : 1 tsp
10. Turmeric Powder : 1 tsp
11. Red chili powder : 1 tsp
12. Cooking Oil : As little as you need
13. Freshly Crushed Ginger Garlic : 3 tsp
14. Salt : To your taste
15. Asafetida (Hing) : 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Chop all the vegetables as shown in the pic above. 
2. Keep them separately. Some of them need extra cooking. So mixing them together would not help.
3. First all heat a little(1 or 2 tsp) oil in a kadhai. You may use any of your favorite cooking oil. 
4. We will fry out the Paneer (cottage cheese) first. Some people use uncooked paneer in preparations, but personally I don't like to use uncooked paneer in my recipes. 
5. Fry until the paneer pieces star getting brown crusts. Take them out and keep aside.
6. Next we will fry potatoes and peas in a little oil. Cook them under lid for 3-5 minutes. Keep stirring in between and take them out once the potatoes and peas are almost cooked. Keep aside
• If you have other vegetables like carrots beans etc. you should fry them as well in this step. These vegetables are hard to cook so need to be cooked in advance.
7. Now we will prepare the masala. I like spicy food but you can choose to be moderate with spices if you prefer. 
8. Heat some oil in kadhai.
9. Add some green chilies and cumin seeds (Jira)
10. When cumin seeds turn fragrant, add freshly crushed ginger and garlic and fry them until they start turning brown.
11. You may also Hing (Asafetida) - 1/2 tsp.
12. Next, add chopped onions and again fry on medium heat until they start melting and turn brownish. 
13. Add salt to your taste.
14. Now you can add copped bell peppers (capsicum) and/or any other vegetables that need only tender cooking. 
15. Fry them for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. 
16. Add chopped tomatoes.
17. Add red chili powder(1/2 tsp), turmeric powder (1tsp), mango powder (1 tsp).
18. Add your favorite masala mix ( kitchen king or chicken masala) - 2 tsp. If you don't have access to a masala mix then you may use the following in equal proportions:
• Cumin Powder 
• Coriander Powder
• Black Pepper Powder
• Garam Masala Powder
19. Fry the spices on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes. Tomatoes would melt in the process.
20. Now add all the vegetables we had fried and kept aside.
21. Fry them all on low heat for 5 minutes. Cover them to cook well and keep stirring in between.
22. At this point your preparation should be almost dry and all the ingredients properly cooked.
23. Your mix-veg masala is ready to enjoy as a dry preparation.
24. However if you like semi-dry mix-veg then you may add some water now and further cook it on medium heat for next 2 minutes.
25. Your yummy mix-veg is ready
26. Enjoy it with chapati/parathe and salad.

Mix-Veg Masala

Dum Aaloo Punjabi | Aaloo Dum | दम आलू पंजाबी | आलू दम | स्वादिस्ट दम आलू पंजाबी स्टाइल | Potato Curry

Potato is one of the staple foods that is equally popular in almost whole world. It is consumed in many forms and can be cooked in many ways, e.g. fried, baked, boiled etc. But way it is cooked in a North Indian kitchen is quite unique and probably the tastiest. One of the items available in almost all the North Indian restaurant menus is Aaloo Dum.

But, the ones who have tried it in different restaurants must have noticed wide variation in taste, cooking style and even names, e.g. Dum-Aaloo Punjabi, Dum-Aaloo Kashmiri or Aaloor Dom. 

Today we are going to cook Dum-Aaloo or Aaloo Dum in Punjabi Style. This is richest in spices and taste.

Dum-Aaloo Punjabi

Recipe:

Ingredients: 

1. Aaloo (Potato) : 10 (small ones)
2. Onion: 2  medium size (chopped)
3. Tomato: 2 medium size (chopped)
4. Fresh Green Chili : 2   
5. Fresh Crushed Ginger-Garlic : 2 tablespoon
6. Masala (spices): You may choose to use 
1. Your favorite spice mix (e.g. kitchen king or chicken masala) 
2. Coriander powder : 1 teaspoon
3. Garam Masala (whole)
1. Tez Patta (bayleaf) : 1 
2. Badi Elaichi (Black Cardamom): 1 
3. Chhoti Elaichi (Cardamom) : 2 
4. Dalchini ( Cinnamon) : 1 inch
5. Laung (Clove) : 5 
6. Kali Mirch (Black Pepper) : 10 
7. Chakra phool (Star Anise) : 1
8. Javitri (Mace) :  Half flower
9. Shah Jeera  (Black Cumins) : 1 pinch
4. Amchoor (Mango Powder) : 1 teaspoon
5. Haldi  (Turmeric Powder) : 2 teaspoon
6. Red Chili Powder : 2 teaspoon
7. Jira (Cumin Seeds) : 1 teaspoon
7. Curd : 3 tablespoon
8. Hing (Asafetida) : 1/2 teaspoon
9. Kaju (Cashew) : 5-6
10. Coriander leaves

Preparation:

Step 1:

1. Take some small size potatoes. If you could not get your hands on smaller ones then you may use bigger potatoes and cut them in smaller pieces
2. Boil the potatoes. Ensure that these are not overcooked. 
3. Peel the skin (if not already peeled)
4. Now heat two spoons cooking oil in a Kadhai
5. Add 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon of red chili powder.
6. Stir fry them in hot oil for around 30 seconds
7. Now add boiled potatoes.
8. Fry the potatoes for 3-5 minutes on medium flame. Keep stirring in between to ensure even frying. 
9. Take them out in a plate and let them cool slowly
10. When potatoes are cooled reasonably, take a fork and poke a few holes around them to make them a little porous. These would allow them to absorb spices in the next round of cooking.

Step 2: 

In this step we will cook the spices:

1. Heat some cooking oil in a kadhai 
2. Add garam masala (whole spices), e.g. Tez Patta, Badi Elichi, Chhoti Elaichi, Dalchini, Laung, Kali Mirch, Chakra phool, Javitri and Shah Jira
3. In a few seconds they will turn aromatic, now add green chilies and freshly crushed Ginger-Garlic and hing
4. Fry them on medium flame for around 30 seconds.
5. Add chopped onions and fry while stirring gently
6. When onions turn golden, add chopped tomatoes and cashew
7. Fry the whole mix for 2-5 minutes on high flame
8. Turn the flame off. 
9. Put the fried spice mix in a grinding jar and grind it to a fine paste.

This ground spice paste can actually be stored in a refrigerator for weeks and used repeatedly.

Step 3:

It is time to prepare the gravy:

1. Heat some cooking oil in a kadhai 
2. Add jira seeds and fry for a few seconds
3. Now add the spice paste created in step 2.
4. Add turmeric powder and red chili powder
5. Fry it on medium flame for 3-5 minutes or until it turns Golden/brown 
6. Add curd and mix it well into the spices.
7. Add water for the gravy 
8. Add salt to your taste and bring the gravy to a boil.
9. Now add fried potatoes prepared in step-1.
10. Let the whole thing boil for 2-3 minutes and turn the flame off.
11. Your Dum-Aaloo Punjabi is ready
12. Garnish it with freshly chopped coriander leaves (dhaniya patta) and kasoori methi leaves(dried)
13. Serve it with Chapati or Pulav Rice and green salad

Tasty Falafel | स्वादिस्ट फलाफल

Falafel is a preparation of Levantine origin. It is popular in most of West Asian region and restaurants serving Levantine cuisine throughout the world. It is also food of choice for vegetarian tourists when traveling in Middle Eastern countries or Eastern Mediterraneans.
Preparation wise it not very different from an Indian pakoda and almost all the ingredients are readily available in our kitchen.

Falafel with Hummus

Recipe:
Ingredients:

1. Chhole (Chickpeas) or Kabuli Chane : 2 cups
2. Onion: 1 medium size (chopped)
3. Coriander Powder : 1/2 teaspoon
4. Cumin Powder : 1/2 teaspoon
5. Red chili powder : 1/2 teaspoon
6. Black pepper powder : 1/2 teaspoon
7. Fresh Coriander Leaves : 1/2 cup
8. Fresh Garlic : 5-6 cloves
9. Lemon Juice : 5 teaspoon
10. Maida (All purpose flour): 1/2 cup
11. Baking Powder : 1/2 teaspoon
12. Salt : To your taste

Preparation:

Step 1: Prepare mix for Falafel

1. Soak the chickpeas in water for around 4 or 5 hours. You may soak it in warm water for better and faster results.
2. Put soaked chickpeas in a grinding jar
3. Add chopped onions, garlic, coriander leaves, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder, black pepper powder, lemon juice, baking powder, salt and maida 
4. Grind them all together into a thick paste
5.  Hand role it into medium size balls 

Step 2: Fry the Falafel Balls

1. Now heat your favorite oil in a deep pan/kadhai. We are going to deep fry the falafel balls, so add enough oil.
2. Deep fry falafel balls on low-to-medium flame until they are evenly brown.
3. Take them out on a tissue paper. Tissue paper would absorb the extra oil.
4. Your Falafels are ready

Step 2: Serving Ideas

1. Serve falafels with Hummus and enjoy with hot tea on a rainy day
2. Wrap them into a chapati or Pita Bread with hummus and salad to make Falafel wrap

Easy and Best Hummus Recipe | Quick and Tasty Hummus Recipe | स्वादिस्ट हम्मूस

Hummus is a levantine spread or dip popular in Middle East and Mediterranean cuisines. Walk into any Lebanese Restaurant and this is the first thing you would notice apart from Shawarma rotisserie. You must have loved the taste and wondered about the land where people get to eat it on a daily basis.
But guys as alien as the name sounds, the ingredients are fairly common in most of Indian kitchens and the recipe is equally easy, just like chutney.

Hummus

Recipe:
Ingredients:

1. Chhole (Chickpeas) or Kabuli Chane : 1 cup
2. Til-dhule huye (Tahini or Sesame seeds) : 1/4 cup
3. Garlic : 5-6 cloves
4. Cumin Powder : 1/2 teaspoon
5. Lemon Juice : 5 teaspoon
6. Olive Oil : 1/4 cup
7. Olive (green) : 3
8. Salt : To your taste

Preparation:

• Soak the chickpeas in water for around 4 or 5 hours. You may soak it in warm water for better and faster results.
• Boil the chickpeas keep them aside.
• Next, lightly roast the tahini/sesame seeds in pan on low flame. take them off the flame once they start bursting or when it turns golden. 
• Grind the roasted sesame seeds into a paste.
• Now add boiled chickpeas into the grinding jar
• Add cumin powder, garlic, lemon juice, and salt into the jar
• Add 2-3 spoon olive oil
• Also add a few olives into the jar. This is optional, but it would greatly enhance the flavor.
• Grind all of the together into a paste like a chutney.
• Take it out in a bowl and top it up with rest of olive oil.
• Your Hummus is ready. 
• For garnishing and extra flavor you may add Paprika (red bell pepper powder) and Za'atar powder.
• Enjoy it with Pita Bread, Falafel or Za'atar Naan.

Palak-Paneer Restaurant Style | Spinach-Cottage Cheese Masala | पालक पनीर | पालक पनीर मसाला

Palak (Spinach) and paneer (cottage cheese) both are full of nutrition and with a little desi masala magic we can turn them into a super tasty and super nutritious preparation we know as Palak-Paneer Masala.
Today, I am going to share with you a recipe to prepare palak-paneer that would taste better than you have ever tasted at any restaurant.

Palak-Paneer Masala

Recipe:
Ingredients:

1. Palak (Spinach leaves) : 250 grams
2. Paneer (Cottage Cheese Cubes): 200 grams 
3. Malai (Fresh Cream) : 3-4 tablespoon
4. Onion: 2  medium size (chopped)
5. Tomato: 2 medium size (chopped)
6. Fresh Green Chili : 2   
7. Fresh Crushed Ginger-Garlic : 2 tablespoon
8. Masala (spices): You may choose to use your favorite spice mix (e.g. kitchen king or chicken masala) instead of these spices mentioned below. 
1. Coriander powder : 1 teaspoon
2. Red chili powder: 1/2 teaspoon
3. Garam Masala : 1/2 teaspoon
9. Mango Powder
10. Turmeric Powder
11. Curd : 3 tablespoon
12. Paanch Foran (5 Seeds) : 1 teaspoon
13. Hing (Asafetida) : 1/2 teaspoon

Preparation:

1. In the first step we will blanch the Palak leaves. This process is needed to tone down the green colour and the green leafy taste of spinach
•  If you don't know what is blanching, here are the steps:
• Boil water in large bowl
• Add the spinach leave as soon the water starts boiling and wait for 2-3 minutes 
• Take the leaves out of boiling water and drop them in to cold water. 
• The water should be really cold (chilled). This would allow the leaves to cool down rapidly and stop them from further cooking.
• Run the leaves through a strainer once they are cooled.
2. Keep the blanched spinach aside
3. In the next step heat 1-2 spoonful of your favorite cooking oil 
4. Put paneer cubes in kadhai and stir fry them. You paneer cubes should have a light brownish shade to it. Take them out and keep aside.
•  You might have noticed paneer cubes used in restaurants in most of the recipes are raw. This means they are skipping step 3 and 4. Personally I don't like raw paneer and trust me a little frying would greatly enhance the flavor of your paneer.
5. Now heat 1 spoon cooking oil in the kadhai
6. Add chopped green chilies and freshly crushed ginger and garlic
7. Fry them for a nearly a minute or until they start turning brown.
8. Add chopped onions and stir fry for a minute 
9. Add chopped tomatoes and stir fry the whole mix for 2-3 minutes on high flame.
10. Switch off the flame and let it cool a little.
11. Now we will grind this mix along with blanched spinach to a fine paste. Keep the paste aside
12. In the last step, heat 1 spoon oil in the kadhai
13. Add paanch foran seeds and fry till they start bursting
14. Add hing.
15. Add spices i.e. turmeric powder, red chili powder, mango powder and coriander powder.
16. Fry it for 2-3 Minutes.
17. Add the spinach, onion and tomato paste .
18. Add salt to your taste
19. Stir fry the whole mix on medium flame for about 2-3 minutes.
20. Add water and stir slowly to mix evenly
21. Once the gravy starts boiling add paneer cubes and let the whole mix cook for 2-3 minutes. 
22. Add Garam masala and curd. 
23. Switch off the flame when you achieve the gravy of desired thickness
24. Your Palak-Paneer is ready. 
25. At the end you may add some fresh cream on top to garnish and further enhance the taste.

Serve it with chapati or rice and daal. 

Aaloo-Methi | Potato Fenugreek Sabjee| आलू-मेथी की सब्ज़ी | आलू-मेथी की सूखी सब्ज़ी | आलू मेथी की स्वादिस्ट सब्ज़ी

Methi or Fenugreek is quite popular ingredient of any Indian Kitchen. The seeds are used in almost all the North-Indian preparations as foran. But young tender leaves of fenugreek plants are the focus of todays recipe. It can be used in a variety of dishes. e.g. methi ke paranthe, aaloo-methi ki sabjee etc.
Today I am going to prepare "Aaloo Methi ki Sabjee". I am using potatoes for Methi's companion here only because I am a little biased towards it. Though you can used anything any other base ingredient (may be Paneer).

Recipe:
Ingredients:

1. Fresh Methi (Fenugreek) Leaves : 250 grams
2. Aaloo (Potatoes): 4 medium size
3. Tamatar (Tomatoes) : 2 medium size
4. Onion: 1 small (optional)
5. Fresh Green chili : 2 
6. Cooking oil 
7. Masala (spices): You may choose to use your favorite spice mix (e.g. kitchen king or chicken masala) instead of these 5 mentioned below. 
1. Coriander powder : 1 teaspoon
2. Red chili powder: 1/2 teaspoon
3. Garam Masala : 1/2 teaspoon
8. Turmeric Powder: 1 teaspoon
9. Ginger Garlic Paste : 1 teaspoon
10. Cumin seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Preparation: 

• First of all take a large bowl with water and add 1 teaspoon salt in it. 
• Add fresh fenugreek leaves and soak it in salt water for 25-30 minutes. The leaves have a little bitter taste. This will kill the bitterness.
• Lightly boil the potatoes. Do not over-boil. We do not want potatoes to crumble and mix in gravy.
• Cut boiled potatoes into medium size pieces
• Take fenugreek leaves out of salt water and chop them into fine pieces.
• Now take a kadhai and heat 2 teaspoon of your favorite cooking oil or butter 
• Add chopped green chilies and cumin seeds once the oil is heated
• When chili and cumin seeds start turning brown, add fresh and crushed ginger and garlic
• Fry them for a nearly a minute or until they start turning brown.
• Add chopped onion and fry until the onions melt and turn brownish (This is optional. you may skip onion)
• Add fenugreek leaves and stir fry for nearly a minute.
• Add salt to your taste
• Add all the spices i.e. coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder and garam masala.
• Add tomatoes (chopped in fine pieces)
• Stir fry the spices with tomatoes on medium flame for 3-5 minutes until the whole mix turn brown and aromatic. 
• At this stage you may decide if you want to add water for gravy or you wish to enjoy it dry. 
• For a dry sabjee, add potatoes (boiled and fried earlier) and mix well into the fried spices. Your dry Aaloo-Methi sabjee is ready
• If you want gravy, add some water in to fried spices before adding potatoes. Wait for water to come to boil and then add potatoes. 
• It is ready to serve. Serve it with Chapati/rice with Dal.

Sev Tamater ki Sabjee | Gathiya Nu Shaak | Gathiya Tamater ki Sabjee | गाठिया नु शाक | सेव टमाटर की सब्जी

This recipe comes on request from a few of my friends. Its a Gujarati dish and like many other Gujarati recipes its sweet and spicy and takes only 5 minutes to prepare.
The name is "Gathiya Tamater ki Sabjee" or "Gathiya Tameta nu Shaak" (in Gujrati).
Gathiya is a thicker sev (fried salted cylinderical bars of besan). See the pic below.

Gathiya Tamatar Ki Sabjee

Recipe:
Ingredients:

1. Tomatoes : 3 medium size
2. Gathiya Sev : 1 cup
3. Oil : 2 tables spoon
4. Sarso (Mustard Seeds) : 1 teaspon
5. Jeera (Cumin Seeds): 1 teaspoon
6. Methi (Fenugreek Seeds) : 1 teaspoon
7. Hing (Compound Asafoetida): 1/2 teaspoon
8. Dhaniya (Coriander) Powder : 1 teaspoon
9. Jeera (Cumin) powder : 1/2 teaspoon
10. Haldi (Turmeric) Powder : 1 teaspoon
11. Lal Mirch (Red Chili) Powder: 1/2 teaspoon
12. Sugar : 1 teaspoon
13. Salt : To your taste
14. Fresh coriander leaves 
15. Fresh Green Chili : 1 

Preparation:

• Heat your favorite cooking oil in a Kadhai
• Add fresh green chili
• Add cumin seeds
• Add fenugreek seeds
• Add mustard seeds
• Add hing
• Fry them on medium flame until they start turning brown and fragrant
• Add tomatoes (chopped in small cubes)
• Add salt to your taste 
• Cover Kadhai and let it cook for 2 minutes on medium flame. Check in between and stir to make sure it doesn't burn and to allow tomatoes to melt evenly.
• Add coriander, cumin, red chili  and turmeric powder
• Fry the spices on medium flame while stirring continuously until the whole mix turn brown and fragrant. 
• You would know it is ready when the oil separates from spices. 
• Gujarati preparation is a bit sweet. So add some sugar. But you may skip it if you prefer spicy. 
• Add some water
• Let the water come to boil.
• Add some fresh coriander leaves. 
• Turn the flame off when you have desired thickness of curry. Gathiya absorbs water to curry should be a bit thiner.
• Now the tomato curry is ready.
• Take tomato curry in a bowl and top it up with some gathiya to serve with chapati. 

Remember gathiya should not be added in the kadhai. Gathiya absorbs curry and in a while the whole thing would become soggy. So Add gathiya in the curry only at the time of serving.

Begun Bhaja / Tale Huye Baigan / Fried Eggplant or Brinjal / तले हुए बैंगन

Monsoon is almost at our doors now and we all crave for a hot tea and some snacks to enjoy it with.
Today we are going to prepare a delicacy from the Bengal. They call it Begun Bhaja or Fried Brinjal/Eggplant. This can be enjoyed alone or with rice and dal (the way Bengali's do it).

Begun Bhaja

 Recipe:
Ingredients:
So we know that the main ingredient is eggplant or brinjal. For best taste we should use big size round brinjal and preferably the deep violet colored one. 

1. Brinjal/Eggplant/Begun : 1 big size
2. Spices:
1. Turmeric powder: 1 teaspoon
2. Cumin powder: 1 teaspoon
3. Coriander Powder: 1/2 teaspoon
4. Yellow Mustard Powder/paste: 1 teaspoon
5. Red chili Powder: 1 teaspoon
6. Mango Powder: 2 teaspoon
7. Ginger Garlic paste: 2 teaspoon
3. Salt : To your taste
4. Mustard Oil

Preparation:

First of all cut the brinjal into half inch slices like the picture below and keep them aside

Brinjal Slices

Let us prepare spices into a paste:

• Take a bowl and put all the spices (from the ingredients) into it
• Add salt to your taste
• Add 2 tablespoon of mustard oil. You may use your favorite cooking oil instead but a Bengali recipe is not complete without mustard oil. 
• Mix them well to make a paste as shown in the pic below. You may add some water if needed.

Spices' Paste

Next we will apply a thin layer of this paste on both side of the brinjal/eggplant slices we had cut earlier. See the pic below:

Final Step:

• Take a pan (preferably non-stick) and heat a little oil (preferably mustard oil) in it. We need the oil to shallow fry the brinjal slices. 
• Once the oil is well heated put the brinjal slice into it. Cover the pan and cook on low-to-medium flame for about 2-3 minutes. You may put multiple slices together if your plan is wide enough. Covering would help cook it faster.
• Once you see that spice layer is crusty and brown, flip the slices to cook the other side again for 2-3 minutes. 
• Your Begun Bhaja is ready now and would look like in the pic below. Take it out on a tissue paper. Tissue paper would absorb extra oil.
• Serve it alone with tea or your favorite drink or with rice and yellow dal.