One more reason why I love mix sabzi is that every bite brings a different vegetable and so every bite tastes different. Isn’t that a delight? Well, I love my vegetable curry as much as my meat. I have a sweet tooth, a meat tooth, and a desi tooth. Pretty much of a foodie, no? Some people eat very selective vegetables. For them, mix vegetable curry comes in handy when you can add so many vegetables to your diet and all at once and eat a little of all vegetables. This recipe is also useful when you have only 1 or 2 pieces left of all vegetables in the fridge. You can fix them all in one curry before you go for the next grocery trip.
Mixed Vegetable Curry
Mixed or mix vegetable is a typical Indian sub-continental onion tomato curry with loads of mixed vegetables. Read the benefits of eating vegetables here. If you are of desi origin and looking for mix vegetable curry. I can tell you, this is a very intimate dish. Yes! there are literally hundreds of variations of different region both in spices, veggie options, herbs and cooking style. You have to call your mom, granny or aunt for you family recipe.
Variations for Mixed Sabzi or Sabji:
Below is my best version of this Pakistani mix vegetable curry and the list of veggies, herbs, and spices. It is my little endeavor to show you what possible options of ingredients go well so you recreate your own the best version.
Veggie option:
Carrot, cauliflower, potatoes are must in a mixed veg curry. Other common additions are bottle gourd, spinach, green pea, clustered bean, and eggplant. Cabbage, drumsticks, mushrooms, corns, zuchinni, french beans, baby corn, asparagus, broccoli are less common but delicious choices to add to this curry. So bottom line is add whatever vegetable you have in hand and you like best.
Lentil options:
I know, this might seem super unusual to Pakistanis but mung dal or whole green lentils and lobia go very well in mixed vegetable. You can simply boil lentils with salt turmeric. Then add it to curry along veggies.
Dairy Additions:
Another regional variation that I learned from Tarla Dalal’s cookbook was the addition of cream, coconut milk, or yogurt to mixed vegetables. The below Pakistani mix sabzi version is non-dairy.
Nut:
Amongst nut cashew or almonds are usual additions when making shahi vegetable curry.
Greens:
In this recipe, I’m using fenugreek and dill leaves. Both herbs add a distinct aroma to the sabzi but if you do not like both, feel free to skip it.
Tips to make best mix vegetable curry:
Freshness of ingredients really matters. Try to use freshest vegetables and freshly chopped ginger and garlic. If you have to use frozen veggies, frozen pea and frozen spinach work well. Try to use all other veggies fresh.Vegetables are delicate, if reheated again and agin they lost both taste nutritions. So try to serve in 2-3 hours of cooking the curry.Keep vegetables chunky and avoid over cooking as no one enjoys over cooked and mushy veggies.
How to make mix sabzi Pakistani Style
This is my mother in law’s mixed vegetable curry recipe that is very similar to Punjabi style and quite perfected so follow it completely. The spice level in this recipe is mild so add more green chili if needed. Fry all spices in oil on medium heat for 1 minute until spices sizzle. Add onion and green chilli paste and cook for few minutes until onions are transparent. Add tomatoes, cover and cook for 5 minutes until tomatoes are soft. ( YOu may use pureed tomato or tomato paste.) Throw in the greens; spinach, dill leaves and fenugreek leaves. Cook for few minutes. Now, it is time to add veggies. Mix well and cook for 20 minutes on low heat until potatoes are tender. Dry out excess water if any on high heat. When oil separates Mix vegetable curry AKA mix sabzi is ready. Serve with roti, khichri and dahi. I like mix sabzi with green pulse khichri, kachumbar and plain yogurt. How do you like your? Which chutney or pickle? I would love to know in comments. Hungry for more veggies? Try these!
Bhindi MasalaAloo PalakVegetable BiryaniAloo BainganAloo gobi matarSarson ka saag
