Kashmiri Vegetables

Hope you all had a good Diwali this year. Wish all the readers a prosperous and fulfilling year ahead. 

After all the ghee-laden sweets and the deep fried snacks, its time for a little simple and easy to prepare veggies filled dish. All our tummies have been on overdrive for the past few days. Time for it to relax and recuperate. 

This dish uses an unusual combination of vegetable. But that works the magic in this recipe and you would think to yourself, like I did, as to why we haven't been cooking more with this combination of vegetables. 

Start off with chopping these veggies into medium sized pieces.

I pre cook the potatoes for 3-4 mins in the microwave. I used the small red potatoes so just sliced them into two precooked them. 

Chop up some Bhindi (Okra) into long pieces. I love broiled okra - if you haven't done it ever, you should try it once. Just put the bhindi on a pan, spray a little oil, sprinkle a pinch of salt and broil for about 15 mins. They cook inside and if left for long, will crisp outside beautifully. But for this recipe, since I knew they're going to be cooking in a gravy, I took them out just when its about to crisp. You can also add the veggie without broil, but that might make it a little soggy. Alternately, you can fry them separately in a tsp of oil till they are halfway cooked. That would work good as well. 

Also chop up some cauliflower into big florets and cut some carrot into long strips. 

For the masala, in a pan, dry roast these ingredients - 

Dhania (Corainder Seeds) - 1 tsp

Cumin - 1 tsp

Cloves - 2 or 3

Black Pepper - about 6-8 

Dried Red Chilli - about 2

Elaichi  (Caradamom) - about 2 

Cinnamom - half a stick

Mix all together, dry roast, and when done, cool a bit and grind to a fine powder. 

Chop up an onion into long strips. Add a tsp of oil to a pan and when hot, add a tsp of cumin seeds. Then throw in the onions and add a tsp of ginger garlic paste or you could skip it if you're not a garlic person.

Now add the chopped veggies to the onions and mix well.

Here's the okra pre-broiled in the oven. See how they are kinda tender and a little crispy. They are not gooey inside anymore and taste great. My biggest problem is resisting myself from eating this just like that.

Add the slightly boiled potatoes to the pan. 

Add the broiled or roasted bhindi to the other veggies.

Add a couple of tsps of the fresh ground masala. Save some masala to add to the yogurt.
Add salt to taste for the veggies and let them cook for about 5-7 mins.

Take about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of fresh yogurt. Add 2 tsps of the fresh ground masala to the yogurt and whisk together.

When the veggies start to become a little tender. add the yogurt mix and turn the heat to low.

Mix well and let this cook for about 5 mins or until it starts to thicken a little bit.

Meanwhile, in a tsp of oil or ghee, roast some cashews and crushed almonds or walnuts.

When the veggies are done, switch off the heat and add the nuts to the pan. Mix well with the veggies.

I cooked up some simple basmati rice with onions, carrots and peas. 

Now all you have to do is serve em hot. And enjoy the food.

This dish has a slightly tangy taste because of the yogurt. So that pairs up nice with some rotis or some simple rice. The fresh ground masala adds a ton of flavor to dish and you're sure to get compliments on the flavor part.

Try it out sometime soon and let me know how you liked it. 

Enjoy. Peace Out!