Veg Jalfrezi
Veg Jalfrezi is a stir fried Indian side dish usually made with julienned vegetables and paneer along with some tomato puree. This dry vegetable preparation goes very well with naan or roti rather than rice. The dish comes together in a matter of minutes and it is perfect on days when you are running short of time but have a fridge full of vegetables. The only time consuming task to make this dish is to julienne (cut into long thin strips) the vegetables especially carrots, bell peppers and beans. Paneer is essentially added to jalfrezi and the dish is incomplete without it. In fact, if you have very less paneer, this is the best dish to go with :)
What you'll need
1/2 cup beans and carrots cut into juliennes
1/4 cup bell pepper juliennes
1 cup paneer cubes
1 large tomato finely pureed
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp kasuri methi (or 10 -15 fresh methi leaves)
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 medium sized onion cut into juliennes or cubes
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil
How to
Boil the beans and carrots in water for just about 3 minutes. The vegetables should be crisp and not cooked. Immediately put the vegetables in a bowl of cold water. This keeps the color of the vegetables intact. Drain and keep aside
Marinate the paneer cubes in some salt, garam masala, turmeric powder and keep aside for 5 minutes. The paneer cubes are marinated since the they do not have any taste on it's own and when stir fried it may not easily be seasoned,
In a non stick pan, add a tbsp of oil and heat it on medium flame. Add the cumin seeds and paneer. Sauté the paneer until it turns golden brown. Remove from the pan and keep aside.
Next sauté the beans, onions, carrots and bell peppers using the same method and keep it aside.
Place the pan over medium heat and add a tbsp of oil. Add the tomato puree and cook until the raw smell goes away. As this is a dry dish, the puree of a one tomato is more than enough. To give some sweetness and tanginess to the dish, add a tbsp of tomato ketchup and cook for a minute. Add the stirfried vegetables, paneer, methi leaves (kasuri methi), some salt and garam masala and toss on high heat for 2 minutes. Serve hot with chapati, roti or nan.
