Mix Veg Salan

Ingredients: Serves 4

For curry paste:

3 tablespoon peanuts, I used salted peanuts, you can use unsalted too.

1.5 table spoon white sesame seeds.

2 table spoon coconut powder, I used dried coconut, you can use fresh too.

2 whole dried red chillies

Water as required

For Salan:

1.5 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/8 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds

7-8 curry leaves

2 medium onions finely sliced

1 cup cauliflower cut into small 1 inch florets

1 carrot sliced into rounds of ½ cm

1 potato diced like aloo chaat. ;)

¼ cup peas

1 small tomato chopped

1 green chilli chopped

1 capsicum, cut into 1 inch pieces.

1 inch ginger, finely chopped

7-8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 cup water

4-5 table spoon curd

1.5-2 table spoon tamarind paste.

½ teaspoon crushed jaggery.

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder to taste

½ teaspoon Coriander powder

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

Oil for deep frying

Recipe:

For Curry Paste:

Dry Roast peanuts, sesame seeds, coconut powder and dried red chilli together in pan, till they turn light brown in color. Grind them finely using some water, consistency should be like fine thick paste. Keep aside.

If using unsalted peanuts, add a pinch of salt too in the grinder.

For Salan:

Deep fry on medium flame potato, cauliflower, carrots and capsicum, one by one, till they are half cooked and they have slightly turned brown on the outside. Keep aside on kitchen towel to drain the excess oil.

In a wok, add 3 tablespoons of oil used for frying the vegetables earlier. Oil should be hot when you add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds. When they begin to crackle, add onion and curry leaves. Fry the onion till they turn light pink in colour. Then add ginger and garlic, and sauté again till the time they lose their raw smell.

Add peas and pinch of salt. Salt at this stage helps vegetable release their moisture and enable them to cook in their own juices. Also it prevents them from getting caramelised.

Cover the wok with lid, turn the flame to lowest and leave it to cook the peas.

After 2-3 minutes, add the curry paste made earlier and mix everything together nicely. Stir continuously. Add salt chilli powder turmeric and coriander powder. After 2-3 minutes of cooking the paste, add water. Gravy now should turn very runny as this water is required to cook the vegetables completely. Check seasoning. Add more if it tastes bland, because it will turn blander once veggies have gone in.

Add all the vegetables, green chilli and stir, and let the Salan come to a boil. When it does, lower down the heat, and cover with lid. Now let it cook covered for 6-7 minutes casually stirring once or twice in between. This is needed for paste, gravy and veggies to cook together and absorb each other’s flavours. Now check a pea or a potato, if a knife goes through them smoothly veggies are cooked. If not, leave them covered for another couple of minutes.

Now check how much gravy you want. Salan meaning curry, itself requires some gravy for volume, hence if at this stage gravy has gone thick due to cooking of the veggies add some more water as per the consistency you like, and let it come to a boil. Check seasoning again.

Now when you are satisfied with consistency, add curd tamarind paste and jaggery, bring to a boil and then simmer it for another 2 minutes after which the Salan is ready.

Serve hot with boiled rice.