Vegetable Jalfrezi

                       

Jalfrezi is a spicy tangy thick curry dish originating in Bengal and popular throughout Indian subcontinent and beyond. Here, i am sharing the vegetarian North-Indian version of Jafrezi. Vegetable Jalfrezi, a semi-dry side-dish is a flavorful blend of colorful seasonal, stir-fried vegetables cooked in a tomato-based rich tangy spicy curry. It is a healthy delightful gluten-free dish that is easy to make and can be served with chapati or naan and tastes great with jeera rice as well. In this restaurant-style vegetable Jalfrezi, i have used Paneer(Indian Cottage Cheese)for the protein element along with fresh mixed chunky vegetables that are first stir-fried and then cooked in a rich Makhani gravy making the dish all the more nutritious and finger-licking good!

                       

What is Jalfrezi? 

Jalfrezi is a spicy curry dish originating from the Indian Sub-continent and is popular across the world. It has both vegetarian and non-vegetarian versions. Jalfrezi dish is believed to have come into existence during the British Raj in India and invented as a means to use up the left-overs. It consist of a main ingredient such as meat, fish, paneer or vegetables, stir-fried and cooked in a thick spicy sauce that includes green chili peppers.

                         

What goes into my Vegetable Jalfrezi ? The ingredients:

• Vegetables: In this vegetable Jalfrezi i have used fresh Winter vegetables like Cauliflower, Baby corn, Carrots, Green peas, French Beans and Bell Peppers along with Red Onions. Best part about this dish is that you can use any seasonal vegetable that is readily available. The key to making a perfect vegetable Jalfrezi is to cut the vegetables uniformly so that they take similar time to cook. We want the veggies to be cooked in such a way that they retain their crunch and do not become mushy.
• Paneer / Indian Cottage Cheese: I have added Paneer for the protein element which makes the dish both delicious and nutritious. You may use tofu or soy chunk instead for a vegan version.
• For the Makhani Gravy: Usually vegetable Jalfrezi is cooked in a simple onion tomato gravy but in this Restaurant style Vegetable Jalfrezi, i have cooked the stir -fried veggies in a rich makhani gravy which uses cashews, butter, onions, tomatoes, cloves, black pepper, Kashmiri red chili powder, garam masala, salt and sugar. All the ingredients are sauteed in butter and then ground to a paste.
• Ginger-Garlic-Green Chili : Vegetable Jalfrezi gets it spicy kick from the green chili, garlic and ginger paste apart from the red chili powder.
• Kasuri Methi / Dried Fenugreek Leaves: Any restaurant style Makhani curry is incomplete without a dish of Kasuri methi being added to it towards the end. Lends a lovely aroma and flavor to the dish.

Related Event: Fresh Winter Veggies @Shhhh!CookingSecretlyChallenge

This Facebook Gorumet group was started by Priya's versatile recipes and taken further to date by Mayuri di who blogs at Mayuri'sJikoni. Here, participating members take turn to propose the theme for each month. For the month of November, Preethi di who blog's at PreethiCuisine.com suggested that we share a dish using fresh winter veggies. She has a wonderful blog and i have tried many dishes from her space as they are healthy and easy to recreate. Her Tom Yum Favored Mushroom Coriander Soup and Gongura Koora - Sorrel Leaves Curry is next on my to-do list.

In this group, all participating members are divided into pairs and both partners exchange a set of secret ingredients, using which both have to cook a dish depending upon the theme for the particular month. Once the dish is ready, only the pic of the dish is shared on the group and the other group members take turns in guessing the secret ingredients, just by looking at the pic of the dish. The secret ingredients are revealed at the end of the month when the recipe is published by the respective members.

For this month Kalyani who blog's at Sizzlingtastebuds was my partner for the theme and she gave me Kasuri methi and baby corn as my two secret ingredients using which i made this healthy and flavorful Vegetable Jalfrezi. In return i gave her sweet potato and Amchur using which she made delicious Beetroot Sweet Potato Tikki. Do check out her space as well for some wonderful recipes.

Dietary Notes:

• Vegetarian
• Gluten-free
• Side-dish
• Restaurant-Style curry

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For Makhani Gravy

• 2 large tomatoes
• 1 large onion
• 10-12 Cashew Nuts
• 4-5 black pepper corns
• 3-4 cloves
• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon sugar 
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon oil

For the Vegetable Jalfrezi:

• 1/2 cup cauliflower florets
• 1/2 cup Carrot, diced vertically
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1/2 cup Paneer, diced
• 1 large Onion, sliced
• 1/4 cup French beans, chopped 
• 1/4 cup green bell pepper, sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon kasuri methi
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic green chili paste
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. To begin making mixed vegetable Jalfrezi recipe, wash all the vegetables and cut them lengthwise into similar sized pieces. 
2. To make the makhani gravy, heat oil in a wok and add cashews to it. Stir-fry until golden in color.
3. Next, add black pepper corn and cloves and fry for few seconds. Now, add chopped onions to it. Saute the onions until translucent. 
4. Tip in the roughly chopped tomatoes. Stir fry the tomatoes and cook until they turn soft and mushy. 

                                        

   5. Lower the flame and add the red chili powder, garam masala, salt and sugar. Give a good stir for about a minute and put off the flame.

 

                                        

6.  Allow the gravy mix to cool down and then grind it to a fine paste using a mixer grinder. Add only a couple of tablespoons of water if needed to make the paste.

                                              

                                               

7.  Now wipe the same pan or wok and add butter to it. Heat on a low flame. Add cumin seeds to it. Once the seeds sizzle, add the ginger garlic and green chili paste to it. Saute until the raw smell goes off.

                                               

8. Next, tip in the sliced onion and saute until translucent. Now, add cauliflower florets, green peas, chopped french beans, diced carrot and baby corn. Stir fry for few seconds and then cover cook until a bit tender. We will add the paneer and bell pepper later on. The idea is to cook the hard veggies first, so that all the vegetables retain their crunch and neither of them turn mushy.

                                               

                                               

                                               

9. Now, add sliced bell pepper and paneer cubes followed by turmeric and salt. Give a good toss and cook on medium to high flame for 1-2 minutes. Keep stirring the veggies to ensure it does not catch the bottom.

                                                 

10. Add the ground makhani gravy paste and blend it well with the stir-fried veggies. Cover and cook for 1-2 minutes and put off the flame. Lastly add kasuri methi and mix well. Our healthy and delicious Vegetable Jalfrezi is ready to serve. 

                                                  

                                                  

                                       

11. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve the restaurant style Vegetable Jalfrezi hot with naan or chapati and some salad and enjoy with your loved ones!

                                    

Recipe Notes:

• You can use any seasonal vegetable that is readily available to make vegetable Jalfrezi.
•  The key to making a perfect vegetable Jalfrezi is to cut the vegetables uniformly so that they take similar time to cook. We want the veggies to be cooked in such a way that they retain their crunch and do not become mushy.
• I have added paneer for the protein element. You may add soy chunk or Tofu instead and replace butter with oil for a vegan version.
• To make the garlic-ginger-green chili paste, take 3 green chilies, 1/2 inch ginger and 4-5 garlic cloves and make a paste of it without adding water in a mortar and pestle or grinder jar.
• You may adjust the amount of green chili and red chili powder used as per your spice tolerance.

Would love to hear from you !

I hope you would love trying out this flavorful and nutritious Vegetable Jalfrezi using fresh Winter bounty. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with use in the form of likes and comments in the section below this post.

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See you soon with yet another healthy and delicious creation from my Kitchen. Until then take care and eat right!

Happy Cooking!

Happy Eating!

Regards

Poonam Bachhav

For more similar recipes that call for use of fresh mixed vegetables , check out the following

• Vegetable Korma
  

• 21 Veggie Stir Fry

• Kerala Style Avial

• Bisi Bele Bath

• Bhogichi Bhaji

• Undhiyu

• Odia Dalma