Generic Indian Sabzi

My friends and colleagues have often asked me to teach them how to make "Indian food". After remonstrating with them that that's too wide and generic a topic, I relented and wrote this "framework" of a recipe that can produce many different Indian-tasting dishes. The framework produces a sabzi which, in North India, stands for sauteed vegetables and spices with no gravy.

Ingredients:

Mandatory

• Oil (olive oil or vegetable oil) - 1 tbsp
• Black mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Ginger - 1/2 a finger's worth
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Red chilli powder (or cayenne or paprika) - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste

Necessary

• Raw onions are not for everyone. If you want your onions cookied well, they should go in either as the first ingredient after the mandatory ones, or right after "hard" veggies like green pepppers.
• Eating raw potatoes will hurt your stomach.
• If you cook vegetables too lightly, you'll get the taste of spices on the outside, but not the inside.
• If your vegetables are too chunky, they won't cook evenly and are hard to eat with fingers. Cut them too small and the delicate ones will turn to mush.
• Different vegetables have different cooking times. "Hard" veggies like green peppers, cauliflower and carrots will take longer to cook. Water veggies like squash or zucchini will cook rapidly.

• Potatoes (raw, diced)
• Green peppers (diced)
• Onions or shallots (diced medium)
• Green beans (cut inch-long, blanch first)
• Cauliflower (florets)
• Sweet potatoes or yams (cubed)
• Tomatoes (cubed)
• Tempeh or seitan (cubed)
• Cabbage (shredded)
• Red bell peppers (diced)
• Baby corn
• Potatoes (boiled, diced)
• Green peas (separated neatly)
• Zucchini (cubed)
• Tofu (cubed)

Optional

• Cinnamon - 1 stick broken
• Cloves - 5-6
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
• Bay leaves - dried, 2-3
• Cardamom - 2-3 pods lightly crushed
• Curry leaves - 4-5
• Green chillies - 2
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Curry powder - 2 tsp
• Garam masala - 2 tsp
• Cinnamon - 1 tsp powder
• Cloves - 1 tsp powder
• Coconut flakes - 2 tbsp
• Crushed dried fenugreek leaves - 1 tbsp
• Cilantro leaves - 4-5 stalks
• Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Steps

• Prep is everything. Have everything cut, cubed, diced and ready to go. Indian food is not forgiving of mistakes at the start.
• Start with mandatory list.
  1. Heat oil at medium high. Heat until it's hot but not smoky.
  2. Add mustard. Wait for few seeds to pop. Messy.
  3. Add cumene. Wait for it to brown lightly.
  4. Add garlic, ginger, saute for 10 seconds.
  5. Add turmeric.
• Immediately move on to necessary list.
  1. Add veggies. Remember, maybe 2-3 of that list, preferably in that order, giving time for hard veggies to cook a bit before you move on to softer ones.
  2. Let the veggies caramelise a bit.
  3. Add chilli powder.
  4. Add salt to taste.
  5. If the bottom is browning, or you don't have enough water in your veggies (e.g., you used carrots and cauliflower), sprinkle a fistful of water.
  6. Cover the pan, bring heat to medium-low.
  7. Cook this way for about 15-20 mins. Occasionally, turn the veggies over for a more even caramel.
  8. Serve when ready.
• Whoa, what happened to the optional ingredients?! Save them for the next time you cook, ha ha.
  1. If using cinnamon and cloves, add them before mustard seeds.
  2. If using fennel, bay leaves and cardamom, add them after cumene seeds.
  3. If using curry leaves and green chillies, add them along with garlic and ginger.
  4. If using any powders, add them after the veggies. If you want to be contrarian and add before the veggies (to get a smokier flavour), don't burn them! Lower the heat, add the powders and add the veggies immediately after.
  5. Garnish with lemon juice, cilantro just before serving.