Vegetable Curry

 My invention

Sometimes when you are really in the mood to experiment and try out something new using your instincts, you might luckily come up with something extraordinary. The satisfaction and confidence you get out it is amazing. This is one such dish I prepared and everyone liked a lot, even those who dislike vegetarian dishes. If you adamantly follow only traditional recipes and methods of cooking, trust me, cooking will turn out to be really boring.. Be creative and be a little adventurous, you never know, what could become a super hit..

This is a balanced vegetable curry.  It has the benefits of vegetables, the proteins from lentils, the flavours and goodness of spices and herbs and the nourishment from coconut milk, making it an all-in-one curry, easy to make and yummy. It goes well with plain or flavoured rice, pulao, roties and chapattis too. I have even tried pouring some into plain noodles and it tastes really yummy. Try it. My husband literally drinks this curry like a soup.

Ingredients :
Lentils (Mung dal - cooked)	-		1 cup
Oil	-		2 tablespoons
Mustard seeds	-		1 teaspoon
Curry leaves	-		2-3 stems
Cumin seeds	-		1 teaspoon
Dried red chillies	-		5-6 nos.
Onion (coarsely sliced)	-		1 large
Green chillies (slit)	-		1 or 2 nos.
Garlic	-		3-4 nos. or more
Ginger	-		5cm piece
Kashmiri Chilli powder	-		1/2 teaspoon
Fennel seed powder	-		3/4 teaspoon
Turmeric powder	-		1/2 teaspoon
Garam masala	-		1/2 teaspoon
Coriander powder	-		1 teaspoon full
Black pepper powder	-		3/4 teaspoon
Vegetables of your choice (I'd prefer)*
Egg plant/Brinjal (cut into cubes)	-		1 cup
Carrots	-		1 cup
Beans	-		1 cup
Koosa or any other squashes	-		1 cup
Warm water	-		1 cup
Thick Coconut milk**	-		3/4 cup
Tomatoes	-		1 large
Coriander leaves / Cilantro	-		a small handful
Salt	-		To taste.

* You can choose vegetables of your own choice. But, try following the recipe exactly with exact ingredients for desired results :) However, close substitutes like green peas and cauliflower can also be used.

** For coconut milk - If you are using fresh coconut milk, then, blend fresh grated coconut in a blender adding 1 cup of lukewarm water for 15 seconds. Pour into a strainer and extract out the milk. Press down completely and squeeze out all the milk from the coconut.

You can also use coconut milk powder. In that case, into 3/4 cup of lukewarm water add 4-5 heaped tablespoons of coconut milk powder and whisk well.

Preparation Method : Wash and drain the Mung dal and cook it in 2 cups of water until it has cooked well.

In a wok, heat the coconut oil and crackle the mustard seeds. Tip : To avoid Sputtering and having a messy kitchen, close with lid while you do this. Throw in the curry leaves. then add the cumin seeds and dried red chilies. Once the tempering is done, add the green chili, onion, garlic and ginger and sauté for 2 minutes on medium flame. When the garlic and ginger has infused its flavour into the oil, add the powdered spices and sauté for not more than a minute. Quickly add the vegetables, add some salt to retain colour of veggies and stir well to coat the vegetables well with the masala. Slowly raise the flame to high. Pour in a cup of warm water, combine everything well and cover with a lid and allow to simmer on high for 5 minutes. Then add the cooked mung dal along with its water  and combine everything well. Pour in the coconut milk and again combine well and bring the curry to a complete boil. Then add the tomato, add the cilantro/coriander leaves. Cover and cook on low flame for 10-15 minutes. Like how I mentioned in the sambar recipe, if you are a working woman or a bachelor, and you find it hard to cook every day, then you can make a pot full of this vegetable curry as well and freeze for couple of days, by pouring into small freezer proof/microwave oven proof clean and dried containers and allowing it to cool. Once cooled cover with lids and pop into your freezer. If you have prepared this curry in good hygiene, you can save it in the freezer for almost a month. I shall soon be posting tips on how to freeze curries. Give this curry a try.. You and your family will love it.