Goan Mixed Vegetable Curry

Pressure cooker is a quintessential equipment in any Indian kitchen. I own 6 pressure cookers in different sizes, shapes and materials -- stainless steel, aluminum and hard anodized. Each one has its own purpose, one can fit the idli stand, one cooks for a crowd, one for 2 and so on. More than a couple of them have served me well for the past 12+ years. Fortunately I've never had an accident in my kitchen (touch wood).

So when Jaya posted about a cookbook author belittling my beloved kitchen equipment, I wanted to show my love to my pressure cooker by posting about it. Like any Indian, I cook rice, lentils, beans, veggie curries etc in the pressure cooker. In today's recipe I used the cooker to cook the veggies and give me a head start in making the curry. 

I made this Goan Mixed Vegetable curry from Divine Taste's original recipe. This is a very hearty and filling curry and the recipe makes quite a lot of it. I served the curry with simple jeera rice the first day and the leftovers with dalia upma and roti the subsequent days.

Ingredients:

For the Curry:

Potato - 1 medium, chopped

Carrot - 1 medium, chopped

Green beans - 20, chopped into ½" pieces
Green peas - ½cup
Cauliflower - 1 cup, florets (I used broccoliflower)
Turmeric - ¼tsp
Salt - to taste

For the Spice Paste:
Coriander seeds - 2tbsp
Cumin seeds - 2tsp
Peppercorns - ¼tsp
Dry red chilies - 3-4
Coconut, grated - 1 cup
Tamarind pulp - 1tbsp
Ginger - 1" piece

For tempering:
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Asafoetida (hing) - ½tsp
Curry leaves - 8-10

Method:

• Pressure cook all the veggies except for cauliflower and green peas. Make sure that the veggies don't turn mushy, 1 whistle in my pressure cooker. Alternately veggies can either be microwaved or boiled in some water.
• In the meantime , dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns and dry red chilies until they turn a shade darker and start smelling aromatic. Let cool slightly and grind to a smooth paste along with grated coconut, tamarind pulp and ginger.
• In a saute pan, add cauliflower and ½cup water; simmer until cauliflower is tender. Next add green peas and the other veggies, cook for 3-4 minutes.
• Add the ground paste, turmeric and salt. Mix well and simmer for 10 minutes for the flavors to mingle. Add water if the curry looks too thick.
• Finally for the tempering; heat 2tbsp oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds and once seeds start to splutter add hing and curry leaves; pour immediately onto the curry. I served the curry with some simple fried rice and cucumber raita.

 

So we had a filling lunch with Mixed vegetable curry and Jeera rice, both cooked in 2 of my workhorse pressure cookers and neither of them blew up in my face.