Why I Love This Recipe
Being vegetarians, we have lots of veggies in our diet. I am a huge fan of recipes that are easy to make and can be altered based on what I have in my kitchen. Oftentimes, I have the odds and ends of many different veggies after a week of cooking, but don’t have a plan to use them. This is the recipe I turn to when that happens. You can easily use different vegetables in this mix veg recipe depending on what you have on hand and what is in season. If frozen veggies are all you have on hand, that isn’t a problem! You can also add paneer to this mix vegetable recipe if you like. I also love that the vegetables are cooked in their juices for this recipe. While it takes a little longer to cook, the results are well worth it. I often make this when we want to have something comforting with roti, poori or paratha. You can also have mix veg curry with steamed rice. While the cook time might take awhile, this curry recipe is quite simple. All you need are some good veggies, a few key spices and a bit of patience! And since everything cooks together in one pot, clean up is a snap. Finally, while I add a bit of cream to make this veg curry a little richer, you can easily omit it or swap in coconut cream to make this a completely vegan dish. Now that you see why my mixed veg curry is a favorite of mine, let’s get to cooking!
How to Make Mix Veg Recipe
Sauté Onions
- Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a kadai (wok)or skillet or a pan. Then add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and let them crackle. Use any neutral oil. I usually make this curry in sunflower oil and sometimes in peanut oil, which by the way is not a neutral flavored oil.
- When the cumin seeds finish crackling, add ½ cup chopped onions.
- Mix well and begin to sauté onions on a low to medium flame. TIP: Stir often when sautéing onions to prevent burning, which can taste rather bitter.
- Sauté onions till they turn light golden.
Sauté Ginger and Garlic Paste
- Add 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste.
- Mix well and sauté for until the aroma of raw ginger and garlic goes away, about 10 to 12 seconds
Sauté Tomatoes
- Then add 1 tightly packed cup of finely chopped tomatoes.
- Mix well and begin to sauté tomatoes on a low heat. Stir often. If the ingredients starts sticking to the pan, add in some splashes of water. Mix and deglaze the pan removing any stuck particles or bits. Continue to sauté further.
- Sauté until the tomatoes turn pulpy, glossy and you see oil releasing from the sides.
Add Ground Spices
- Add ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder or paprika, ½ teaspoon garam masala powder and 2 teaspoons coriander powder. TIP: For a spicier curry, add more Kashmiri chili powder to taste.
- Mix the ground spice powders very well with the onion-tomato mixture and sauté for some seconds or up to a minute.
Add Vegetables
- Add 2 cups of mixed chopped veggies and 1 green chili (about ½ teaspoon chopped chilies) to the onion tomato masala. TIP: Chop the veggies in evenly sized small to medium sized pieces so that they cook well. You can use mix vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, potatoes and french beans. You can also use capsicum, white button mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini etc. Just be sure to add the veggies in appropriate order, with vegetables that take a long time to cook going in first and vegetables that are quick cooking being added last. Check out this handy guide to vegetable cook times to help you. Here is the amount of vegetables you need to add but you can easily alter the proportions of each veggie.
⅓ to ½ cup chopped potatoes ⅓ cup chopped capsicum⅓ cup chopped carrots¼ to ⅓ cup chopped french beans1 cup chopped cauliflower (blanch the cauliflower florets prior to cooking if you prefer)
- Add ½ cup of green peas (fresh or frozen).
- Mix the veggies very well with the onion-tomato masala and sauté for a minute.
Add Water
- Add 1.5 cups water. (For a thinner gravy add 2 cups water.)
- Add salt to taste.
- Mix well.
Cook Vegetable Curry
- Cover the kadai, skillet or pan with a lid and cook the veggies on a low to medium heat.
- Check periodically while the veggies are cooking.
Add Milk or Cream (Optional Step)
- When the veggies are half cooked (still too firm to poke with a fork), add 2 tablespoons cream (light or heavy) or 3 tablespoons milk in the vegetable curry. Swap the cream with malai – the layer of cream that floats on top of boiled milk that has been cooled. Note that the milk may curdle, but this gives a good taste in the veg curry. In the video, cream is added to the gravy. TIP: You can skip adding cream or milk if you prefer, or opt for a coconut based cream, almond flour, cashew powder or cashew cream instead.
- Mix well.
- Cover the kadai, pan or skillet again and simmer till the veggies are cooked well and fork tender.
- Continue to check periodically while the veggies are cooking to ensure they don’t get overcooked and mushy.
- The veggies should be fork tender when they are done. TIP: If there is too much water in the curry, then remove the lid and cook till the water evaporates and you get the curry consistency you want. If the vegetable curry looks dry and the veggies are not cooked, then add some water and continue to cover and cook.
- Then add 3 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves (cilantro). Mix again. If using paneer then add some paneer cubes and the coriander leaves. Mix and switch off the heat.
- Serve mix vegetable curry steaming hot or warm.
Serving Suggestions
Savor the vegetable curry with roti, naan, paratha or poori. You can also serve it with steamed rice or cumin rice. The curry also pairs well with bread or dinner rolls. Enjoy!!
Storage and Leftovers
Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days. Reheat in a pan before serving. If the gravy has become thick, add a few splashes of water and mix well while reheating. Be careful while reheating so that the vegetables do not get overcooked. Please be sure to rate the recipe in the recipe card or leave a comment below if you have made it. For more vegetarian inspirations, Sign Up for my emails or follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. Veg Kadai Recipe Veg Kurma Recipe | 2 Tasty Vegetable Korma Recipes Veg Kolhapuri Recipe Thai Red Curry Recipe (Vegetarian) This mix veg recipe post from the blog archives (June 2010) has been republished and updated on 15 April 2021.