India curries normally have various vegetables, legumes, meat, paneer, etc. Mixed veg is one curry where you can use host of vegetables and paneer in one single curry. If there is one curry which I love any day, it has to be mixed veg curry. What I like in this recipe is that, I can use any spare vegetable in the house and dish up a yummy curry. This mixed vegetable curry is my safe bet when I am cooking for any vegetarian.
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What is Mixed Veg or Mix Vegetable Curry or Sabzi
Curry is rough translation of sabzi. Sabzi is normally referred to greens. A curry made with host of vegetables, like cauliflower, cabbage, potato, beans, capsicum, paneer, etc is called mixed veg curry.
I do not know how and who invented this mixed veg. However I will think, it probably have been invented by some accident. When some one would have cooked all the veggies together.
Now mixed veg is a household name in Indian cuisine. You will probably find it available in all restaurants across India. This used to be my favourite curry when I will go out to eat when I was growing up. My mum would make this veg curry at home sometimes, however it never tasted as good as I found in restaurants or the one I will eat in Indian wedding food. This led me to get to explore the reason and I am sharing the recipe now which will taste same as you find in a good restaurant or made by your favourite halwai.
Ingredients for Mixed Veg
As the name would suggest, this veg curry has an array of vegetables. Some of the common vegetables which you could add in mix vegetable sabzi are:
- Carrot
- Cauliflower
- Cabbage
- Bell pepper
- Green beans
- Potatoes
- Green peas
- Tomatoes
- Onions
You can of course add any other suitable veg too. Apart from vegetables, Paneer is also normally added. Two other things which I normally add are, cashews and foxnut seeds/ makhana. Cashew gives a bit of royal feeling and makhana adds to the great taste.
Ingredients for Mixed Vegetable 
Ingredients for Mixed Vegetable Curry
Method to make best Mixed Veg Curry
- Heat enough oil in a pan/kadai for deep frying, and fry cauliflower florets, potatoes, carrots, beans, capsicum, paneer and lotus seeds/ makhana. Keep them on a kitchen towel.
- In a separate pan, heat 4 tablespoon oil over medium heat and shallow fry cashews, green peas and cabbage and take them out on a kitchen towel.
- Now in the same pan add bay leaves, cumin seeds and cinnamon stick and sauté for a minute.
- Add ground onion paste and sauté till it changes its colour.
- Add ginger garlic paste now and sauté again for a minute. Add coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder, kitchen king masala and garam masala and sauté.
- Now add puréed tomatoes and cook it starts separating oil.
- Add all the deep fried and shallow fried vegetables, nuts and paneer and mix everything well. Now add desi ghee and crushed kasuri methi now and mix well and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
- Switch off the heat and transfer it into a serving bowl.
Pro Tips
- Do not fry the vegetables for long, else vegetables will turn dark/ black. We need to be making the vegetables crunchy, hence only fry for few minutes.
- Adding kasuri methi and ghee enhances taste by many folds. Do not skip this.
- For a healthier version, you can air fry or stir fry the vegetables.
- Whilst you can add vegetables as per season and availability, I will recommend using fresh vegetables for best taste. I will also recommend to use colorful vegetables. A colorful veg curry is difficult to resist.
- You may find that restaurants add cream to this. I will recommend to not use it, unless you wish to add creamy texture to your curry. Adding cream also adds to calories.
- Make sure that the ratio of vegetables is maintained, else vegetables will taste more like the one which is in higher quantity. e.g. DO NOT add 1 cup of cauliflower, and two table spoon of rest of vegetables.
- My recipe is for dry mixed veg, you can make it semi-dry or with gravy by adding appropriate amount of water before adding vegetables in the gravy.
Which vegetables to use for mixed veg
There is no set rule on which vegetables can be used for mixed vegetable curry. I will suggest to go with something seasonal. Also think of pairing of colors, e.g. add green beans or french beans and green peas for green. Carrot for orange, add red bell pepper for reds, etc. Make sure that since its mixed veg curry, you are adding a few vegetables, and not restricting it to two three vegetables.
This Mixed Veg Curry Is
- Good way to get variety of greens into the meal.
- A gluten-free recipe.
- A curry which you can make on normal day cooking or for special events.
- Suitable for freezing .
- Good change from mundane food.
Serving suggestion
Serve this veg curry along side any Indian bread, such as naan, puri, or paratha.
If you looking to add more veg into your meal, you may like to try this pav bhaji recipe too.
Recipe Card
Mixed Veg – Halwai Style
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Cauliflower Florets
- 1 Cup Green Beans Chopped
- 1 Cup Carrot Chopped
- 1 Cup Bell Pepper Chopped
- 3 Potatoes Medium Size, Cut into cubes
- 1/2 Cup Green Cabbage Chopped
- 100 Grams Paneer / Indian Cottage Cheese Cut into cubes
- 1/2 Cup Green Peas
- 1/2 Cup Foxnut / Lotus seeds / Makhanas
- 20 Cashews
- 1 Onion Big Size, Ground to paste
- 3 Tomatoes Medium Size, Pureed
- 1 Tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
- 3 Bayleaves
- 1 Inch Cinnamon stick
- 1 Tsp Coriander Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Cumin Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Red Chilli Powder
- 1.5 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Kitchen King Masala
- 1/2 Tsp Garam Masala Powder
- 1 Tbsp Dried Fenugreek Leaves / Kasuri Methi
- 1 Tbsp Ghee / Clarified Butter
- 4 Tbsp Oil
- 200 Ml Oil For Deep Frying (You may need more oil in pan, 200ml mentioned for calorific value calculation)
Instructions
- Heat enough oil in a pan/kadai for deep frying, and fry cauliflower florets, potatoes, carrots, beans, capsicum, paneer and lotus seeds/ makhana. Keep them on a kitchen towel.
- In a separate pan, heat 4 tablespoon oil over medium heat and shallow fry cashews, green peas and cabbage and take them out on a kitchen towel.
- Now in the same pan add bay leaves, cumin seeds and cinnamon stick and sauté for a minute.
- Add ground onion paste and sauté till it changes its colour.
- Add ginger garlic paste now and sauté again for a minute. Add coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder, kitchen king masala and garam masala and sauté.
- Now add puréed tomatoes and cook it start separating oil.
- Add all the deep fried and shallow fried vegetables, nuts and paneer and mix everything well. Add desi ghee and crushed kasuri methi now and mix well and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
- Switch off the heat and transfer it into a serving bowl. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve with naan or any bread of your choice.
Notes
- You can shallow fry all the vegetables if not a fan of deep fried stuffs.
- Fry all the vegetables till they are soft with little crunchiness.