Sunday, January 31, 2010

Microwave Vegetable Makhanwala ~ Mixed vegetable curry in creamy gravy

If cereal is your standard breakfast each morning then you already probably know that buying cereal is not as simple as it seems. There are a variety of cereals available and some of them provide a good balance of daily fiber and low sugar whereas some of them can be very sugary and contain absolutely no fiber.

Reading labels can be a boring and time consuming activity when you are short of time but sometimes that seems to be the only way for us to be able to decide which products are good and which are not.... Of course articles such as this one are also useful in breaking down some of the facts so that we know which products to avoid. I was quite surprised to see granola on this list and finding out that granola can contain up to 9g of sugar. I don't think this is the kind of sweet start I would want for the day :-)   Read this list, if you want to see if your cereal/ granola made the list, and to see how much sugar/ fiber it contains. 

Moving on to the post, Makhanwala usually refers to a creamy gravy curry from North Indian cuisine. I made this curry inspired by a recipe I found in Tarla Dalal's Microwave recipes book. I modified the original recipe quite a bit. I used a combination of mushrooms and bell peppers, added ginger and garlic and enhanced flavor with kasuri methi. This curry was a big success in our home and it also has the honor of being one of the rare curries I have made entirely in the microwave :-)

 Microwave Veg Makhanwala ~ Mixed Vegetable curry in creamy gravy


Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Microwave Veg Makhanwala

1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (optional, can be substituted with equal quantity cauliflower florets)
1 cup green peas ( fresh or frozen, I used frozen)
2 large carrots cut into little pieces (yielded about 1 cup cut carrots)
1 1/2 cups mixed colors sliced and deseeded bell peppers ( I used frozen)
(Or 6 cups of vegetables of choice like cauliflower, carrots, green beans, green peas, bell peppers/capsicum)
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 medium onion cut fine
1 tbsp butter/ oil / clarified butter (ghee/nei) (for a vegan version use oil)

1 tbsp all purpose flour (maida)
5 tbsp ketchup
3 generous pinches kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
3/4 tsp chilli powder
salt to taste

3 tbsp raw cashew nuts soaked in water for 30 mins (see notes)
1/2 cup milk (see notes for vegan substitutions) 
handful cilantro (coriander leaves) cut fine for garnish

Puree the soaked and drained cashew nuts with a little bit of milk  (see notes)

Assemble items 1 to 4 in a shallow glass dish or any other microwave safe dish. Sprinkle about 5 to 6 tbsp water on it and cook on high heat in 3 minute increments, stirring every 3 minutes ( it took me 12 minutes)

Keep the cooked vegetables aside.

Heat butter/ clarified butter in a shallow dish in the microwave (about 45 seconds) or heat oil for about 30 seconds if using oil.

The copyright of this content belongs to Veginspirations.com

Add cut onion to the oil/ butter and cook on high heat for 2 minutes or until it turns pinkish.

Add all purpose flour, ketchup, kasuri methi, salt and chili powder and mix well. Add cooked vegetables and mix again.

Add pureed cashews + balance of milk and cook on high for about 5 minutes so that the flavors blend together.

Garnish with cilantro and serve hot on a bed of plain rice, or with pulao or with rotis.

Serves approximately 2 to 3

Notes
If you want to make a vegan version of this curry and want to avoid milk, you can increase the cashew nuts to 5 tbsp and puree it with just water. Add to the curry as suggested above, add water to achieve required consistency and continue with the recipe.

Since the strength of each microwave varies, cooking times can vary too, so check often to see if done.

24 comments :

miss v said...

microwavable curry!? who would have thought! it sounds good, and i'm sure it's nice to save on time and dirty dishes. :)

Unknown said...

Creamy curry!

Preeti Kashyap said...

Creamy and yumm Usha!

Dershana said...

hmm, thinking of making granola bars at home. have searched out a good recipe. the curry does look very creamy!

Devasena Hariharan said...

Looks rich & creamy! that photo looks tempting

Renuka Bedre - Rao said...

Microwave makhanwala! fantastic job!
Renuka
http://cookingyummy.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

nice try in MV curry looks creamy and sounds delicious...

chef and her kitchen said...

That looks very delicious dear...looks gr8

Deepa G Joshi said...

wow..veg makhanwala in microwave, beautiful veggie, nice and creamy..

Priya Suresh said...

Such an awesome work, makhanwala looks creamy and rich..

Ash said...

WOW!!!! That is a splendid one indeed..... Rich & creamy.... must taste heavenly.... That being the microwave version gives the prep that edge, it requires.... Truly Savory!!!!!!

Ash....
(http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)

Finla said...

Wowo you dod tha tin MW. Wish i made use of my MW like this.
Curry looks indeed creamy delicous.

Rachana said...

Wow!!! What a tempting Curry and that too made in the microwave!!!! Great!

Shama Nagarajan said...

awesome recipe...

Unknown said...

looks deliicous..so creamy and yumm

SE said...

wow..recipe looks great !! hey do find out details about cooking entire dish in a microwave...i believe it is not a healthy choice of cooking!!!

Preety said...

it looks os yummy, and simple recipe too..love the click

shahana said...

the gravy looks really creamy!!!

Myvegfare said...

microwavable curry !!, never still tried anything in microwave much, someday I should try something at least sometime soon, your curry is looking lovable..

Anonymous said...

i love anything cooked with half n half.it adds so much richness to the dish.looks yum usha

Uma said...

looks absolutely delicious!! New look of your site is nice :)

Gita Jaishankar said...

Great info Usha...we too stopped buying cereals or instant oatmeal, everything contains a high amount of sugar, if the ones mentioned as sweetened with natural sources. The best thing is to prepare oatmeal or granola by ourselves...great dish too, looks creamy :)

organic baby cribs said...

I like the dish. It looks so creamy and this is going to be easy for me!

Sara's Corner said...

Microwave curry looks yummy.

Related Posts with Thumbnails