Indian Spiced Vegetable Medley

If you can call a motley crew of vegetables culled from the depths of the crisper drawer and all cooked together until one knows not where one ends and another begins because they are all beautifully melded with spicy chilies, cilantro, and homemade* garam masala powder a “medley”, then that is what I had for dinner the other night.

I’d been craving some Indian curry flavahs all week. But, alas, had not the cashmoney to buy some real-style, nor yet the time to make some real-style… Until the other day when I got home and realized I didn’t have to be anywhere for TWO WHOLE HOURS. Unfortunately, I also hadn’t had time over the weekend to hit the store up proper so my kitchen was a little bare.

But much like when you are broke and you dig around the couch cushions to find some change and magically come up with enough to do laundry and even buy a single beer at that weird, dirty store by the laundromat that’ll let you break up 6-packs, my refrigerator similarly blessed me with enough odd bits of vegetables to make up a real yummy and healthy dish and quell my spicy desires.

I found some bendy carrots, the end of a cabbage head, half a bag of frosty peas, a wrinkly serrano pepper, and a small bunch of cilantro that was just about to give up its spirit completely. I’m sure you could substitute broccoli or cauliflower for the cabbage, no problemo.

Oh! I did happen to have some fresh turmeric root that I picked up a little while back. I’d have taken a picture for you but it was slightly more shriveled than it was when I brought it home. Anyway, this was a perfect time to use it! If you don’t have it, don’t sweat it. I’m sure it’ll be fine. But I was excited so I thought I’d tell you about it.

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Indian Spiced Vegetable Medley

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5 from 1 review

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1” x 1″ piece fresh ginger, peeled
  • 1” long piece of turmeric root, peeled (or 1/2 t ground)
  • 3 T water
  • 2 T oil
  • 1 serrano chile, sliced thin
  • 1 small bunch cilantro, stems minced, leaves torn
  • 3 large carrots, sliced into 1/8” rounds
  • 1/4 head of cabbage, chopped into about 1″ pieces (about 3 cups)
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 12 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Directions
  2. Combine the ginger, turmeric, and water in a blender and make a paste.
  3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat and add the paste. Fry it for about a minute. Look out, it’ll getcha.
  4. Add the pepper, cilantro (stems only right now), carrots, and cabbage and stir that around for about 5 minutes.
  5. Add the spices and salt and a couple tablespoons of water.
  6. Cover and reduce heat to low.
  7. Cook about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  8. Add the lemon juice and cilantro leaves and cook another 5 minutes.

Notes

Serves probably 3 normal people but in my case it was 1.

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*My garam masala was something I got at the last food swap from Melissa at Kitchen Ayurveda.

12 Comments

  1. Bev Weidner on September 9, 2011 at 8:48 am

    Yep, I could face plant that, FOR BREAKFAST.

  2. anne almirall on September 9, 2011 at 9:09 am

    I shall try this soon….with a bunny (or two) around, I always have fresh (and bendy) veggies around.

  3. Jared on September 11, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    Doesn’t seem Indian without Curry!

    • Hilah on September 11, 2011 at 6:23 pm

      Hi Jared! Do you mean without curry powder?

  4. Randy on September 12, 2011 at 7:51 pm

    I really admire your respect and knowledge of Indian cuisine in this recipe. No calling it a curry. No using commercial “curry” powder. But the seasoning for this is about as authentic as you can get for an Indian dish, without toasting the spice seeds. You’ve even got a souring agent. I may try this with some brocoli and carrots, I’ve got in the refrigerator. But then again, I’m catching up with your blog backwards so I know I’ll be making the kimchi and since I never find small heads of napa cabbage, I may have some of that left when I make this.

    Do you make your own garam masala?

    • Hilah on September 13, 2011 at 7:52 am

      Thank you! Everything I know I learned from Madhur Jaffrey.
      I got that garam masala from another Austinite: Kitchen Ayurveda. (I just amended the post to link to her site at the bottom.)

  5. Melissa Little on September 13, 2011 at 10:05 pm

    Hey thanks for the shout out, Hilah!

    The garam masala was made from scratch; an Ayurvedic teacher gave me the recipe!

    We loved the harissa you made. Thanks for the trade.

    Warm, spicy regards,
    Melissa

    • Hilah on September 14, 2011 at 9:17 am

      Hi Melissa! I’m glad you liked the harissa. Your garam masala is the best I’ve ever had.

  6. Sourabh on December 1, 2015 at 11:44 am

    Yumm yumm yumm – looks lovely and awoemse color!I was wondering if I could substitute the coconut oil with mustard oil? Just that I’m not too fond of the pungency in the coconut oil.Will it yield the same results?Will give this a try pretty soon:)

    • Hilah on December 1, 2015 at 12:24 pm

      Hi Sourabh,
      I really don’t know about that. I’ve never used mustard oil, but if you are familiar with it, then I think you would like it just fine!

  7. Maria on May 12, 2016 at 12:35 am

    Thank you, Hilah, for a lovely recipe and your humour in it’s delivery. Looking forward to following many more 🙂






    • Hilah on May 12, 2016 at 12:00 pm

      Thank you, Maria!

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