Mixed Vegetable Sabzi

An everyday dish with no fixed list

Mixed vegetable sabzi, usually just called mix veg, has no single origin and no fixed recipe. It is what a North Indian household makes from whatever the sabziwala had that week, a handful of beans, some peas in winter, the last of the cauliflower. This recipe is the home style, dry to semi-dry, built on onion and tomato and eaten with phulkas or rice. It is different from restaurant mix veg, which uses a rich cashew and cream gravy and sits closer to navratan korma, and from the fiery veg Kolhapuri of Maharashtra.

The order of the vegetables

Most disappointing mix veg comes from one decision: tipping everything into the pan together. Potatoes and carrots need far longer than peas, so by the time the potato is soft, the capsicum has gone grey and the peas have split. Staging them in three batches costs no extra effort and makes the dish look and taste as though more care went into it. Cut sizes matter just as much. Hard vegetables are cut smaller, softer ones larger, so that the times even out. Carrots at one centimetre cook in the same time as potato at one and a half, and a cauliflower floret should fit comfortably on a spoon.

Add very little water. The vegetables release their own as they cook under a lid, and a quarter cup is enough to start the steam. The masala should coat the pieces, not float them. If you want a gravy for rice, add half a cup of hot water after the capsicum and simmer for three minutes, but keep the dry version for roti.

Building the masala first

Taste in this dish comes from the base, because the vegetables themselves are mild. Onions taken only to pale yellow leave the sabzi thin and sharp. Eight to ten minutes to a proper gold gives sweetness and body. The tomato stage is finished when the spoon leaves a track on the pan floor and a little oil appears at the rim. Rushing this stage is the usual reason a sabzi tastes sour and raw, and more spice will not fix it later.

Fixing a sabzi that has gone wrong

If the pan is watery at the end, take the lid off, raise the heat and stir gently until the liquid evaporates, or lift the vegetables out, reduce the sauce, and fold them back in. If the vegetables have gone mushy, do not stir any further. Add a handful of quickly fried capsicum or peas for texture, and call it a curry by adding a little water. If it tastes flat, add a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt before anything else. If the base has caught and tastes burnt, move the unburnt top to a clean pan without scraping the bottom.

Swaps through the year

The list is entirely flexible. Winter suits turnip, fresh peas and more cauliflower; summer suits lauki, tori and tinda, which go in with the second batch and need little water. Pumpkin works in the first batch, and spinach leaves can be folded in at the very end. Frozen peas and beans are perfectly good and need only the last few minutes. Hing is left out to keep the recipe gluten-free, since most Indian compounded hing contains wheat flour; a pinch with the cumin adds a savoury depth if gluten is not a concern. Dropping the potato and adding more beans or cauliflower makes a lighter plate that suits someone keeping starch low. Ghee in place of oil is fine, though the recipe is then no longer vegan. Ways of building a balanced plate around dishes like this are part of the healthy eating essentials course.

Serving and storing

Serve it hot with phulkas, multigrain roti or plain rice, alongside dal tadka and a bowl of curd to supply the protein that the vegetables lack. It makes a good filling for a wrap with a smear of green chutney, and leftovers stir well through rice with a little extra cumin.

Cool it quickly and refrigerate within two hours for up to two days. Reheat on medium heat with a spoonful of water, stirring gently until steaming throughout. The colour dulls and the capsicum softens by the second day, but the taste holds well. Do not freeze it, since potato turns grainy and most of the vegetables turn limp once they thaw.