Kadhai Vegetable served with a meme

Here are two facts about me:

A.I love spicy vegetables
B.I love colorful vegetables. I like to combine the green, orange, and white colors in my cooking.

One such vegetable that meets both the above criteria is Kadhai Vegetable. Again, a very authentic Punjabi dish, which is served in restaurants loaded with oil. This vegetable is a mix of many vegetables and spices. My dad had described this vegetable after his visit to Delhi. I used to envy him sitting at a dhaba, devouring all the parathas, lassi, and sabzis. It seems that the restaurant style vegetables, for which we pay 40 bucks or so, are available at much cheaper rates at these dabhas. Dad told me that a group of 4-5 people can have everything from a starter, main course, to dessert for a mere sum of 100 bucks. Moreover, all the vegetables are fresh and have a very different taste. Talking of dabhas, I remember the scene in the movie “Sarfarosh”. Where Aamir and his team of agents disguise and visit a dabha to catch the guns dealer. The fight that follows is amazing. I simply love that movie and can watch it N number of times. I love such patriotic movies with happy endings and beautiful songs. Mom shouts at me every time I watch the movie. I mean she also loves it, but she doesn’t understand how I don’t get tired of watching the same thing again and again.

I have not been fortunate to visit Delhi and sit on a deewan to savor these Punjabi dishes. So far, I have been content with eating out in restaurants. Here, in the US, getting authentic, decent Indian food is still difficult. I have been to some Indian joints where the only thing I found common with the Indian restaurants is that they both seem to use stale vegetables. Isn’t cooking at home so much better and easier? Plus, we get to watch the oil that goes into our food. And the thrill of experimenting:)

Coming back to the sabzi, I think it is named so as it is served in a kadhai:). No, a far more convincing reason is that you add kadhai spices such as coriander, cumin, red chilli, and black pepper. Yeah, the sabzi does require some time and effort in the kitchen, but drag your husband to help you and you are good to go. That’s what I did last time I made this sabzi and P murdered the cauliflower and smashed it ruthlessly. In his own words, “Maine unka namonishan mita diya” P is a great help in the kitchen, but he tends to get lazy and impatient at times, especially if his favorite movie is on the TV.

Here’s the recipe for Kadhai Vegetable, again from Sanjeev Kapoor’s “Simply Vegetarian”. My entry for “K” for Nupur’s A-Z series.

Kadhai Vegetables

Ingredients
1.10-12 French beans
2.2 medium sized carrots
3.2 medium sized capsicums
4.¼ medium sized cauliflower
5.3 large sized tomatoes
6.2 medium sized onions
7.¼ cup shelled green peas
8.3 red chillies (whole)
9.1 tbsp coriander seeds
10.1 tsp cumin seeds
11.12-15 cloves garlic
12.2 one inch pieces of ginger
13.3-4 green chillies
14.A few sprigs of fresh coriander leaves
15.4 tbsps oil
16.½ tsp turmeric powder
17.1 tbsp coriander powder
18.1 tsp red chilli powder
19.Salt to taste
20.1 tsp garam masala powder

Method

1.String and wash French beans. Peel and wash carrots. Wash, halve, and deseed capsicums. Cut all the vegetables into ¼ th inch cubes. Separate cauliflower into small florets and wash. Wash tomatoes and chop roughly. Peel, wash, and slice onions. Wash and drain green peas. Remove stems and break red chillies into two.
2.Grind coarsely three of the red chillies with coriander and cumin seeds. Peel and wash ginger and garlic. Remove stems and wash green chillies. Clean, wash, and chop coriander leaves.
3.Grind half of the ginger with garlic and green chillies. Make julienne of the rest of the ginger.
4.Heat oil in a pan. Add the coarsely ground masala (coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and red chillies). Add sliced onions and sauté till golden brown.
5.Add ginger-garlic-green chilli paste and sauté for one minute. Add the vegetables except capsicums and tomatoes and stir. Cook covered on low heat till carrots are almost done. Sprinkle a little water if necessary.
6.Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, and red chilli powder. Stir continuously. Add tomatoes, salt, and half cup of water. Cook till the vegetables are cooked and water dries up.
7.Add capsicums and cook for 4-5 minutes on low heat. Sprinkle garam masala powder.
8.Serve hot garnished with ginger julienne and coriander leaves.

I have been tagged for a meme by a wonderful friend, who shares my name. Swapna has tagged me for the “Things I do daily” meme. Here’s what I do daily:

1.Get up early like an obedient wife and make chapattis for hubby’s lunch box. Also, make his breakfast and coffee.
2.In the evening, I change my avatar and become not so humble and obedient. I nag and pester and shout at him to keep his shoes, clothes, bag, and jacket in the right place.
3.Miss and think about my parents every single day.
4.Thank God for making me smart, beautiful, intelligent, kind..oops, I ran out of lies:). No, but I do thank God for making me physically fit.
5.Admire nature from my balcony in whichever form I can – be it the setting sun, the chirping birds, the beautiful trees, the howling wind. After all, “What is life if full of care, you have no time to stand and stare”:)
6.Check my blog a dozen times. I think that’s the only reason why the visitor count increases:). Sometimes, feel proud of my blog and feel great when I receive wonderful comments. I do a daily blog patrolling too.
7.Scratch my head to come up with some good dishes for all the blog events.
8.Watch TV, read, cook.
9.Fight with hubby, and then make up. Tease and trouble him, he does the same to me.
10.And last, but not the least, SMILE:). That’s what I do every single day.

Thanks a lot Swapna for tagging me! I enjoyed writing this meme. I am tagging Nupur, Manasi, and Richa for this meme. I hope you girls continue it.