Saturday, March 31, 2007

Methi-Zucchini ki sabzi :)

Here's one more from the squash and greens fan :). Two of my favorite vegetables put together-simple magic! Both green.....one very aromatic and leafy and the other one a great squash (without seeds, may i add). Methi (Fenugreek) is a very valued spice in Indian cuisine. Green leaves are used as vegetables and dried ones as garnish. Even the seeds (methra/methidana) occupies a coveted place in the spice-box. There are two varieties of methi available in Punjab-methi and methra. The latter has bigger leaves and more aromatic. Methi is considered to be "garam" in essence. Its predominantly a winter time product in India. Zucchini on the other hand is the best equivalent to ridge-gourd (which incidently is a summer vegetable). Grilled zucchini is good, so is aloo-methi. However, today lets try something that gets the best of both worlds :).



So, lets get, set and go.....

We need:

  • 2 bunches fresh methi (chopped fine)/frozen (1 packet)
  • 2 medium sized zucchinis (cubed)
  • 2mild long red peppers (chopped)/you may like red sweet-pepper instead
  • Jeera (1 tsp.)
  • 1/4 onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 big tomato (chopped)
  • 1 tbsp. oil
  • Turmeric (1/2 tsp.)
  • Salt and chilli powder to taste
Heat oil and splutter jeera-saute onions and add tomatoes (the usual). Cook and then add turmeric and chilli powder. Now add zucchini cubes and cook on high heat for 5 minutes. Add methi and stir. Add salt and cook on low heat after covering the pan. Half way through add chopped red pepper of your choice (I used Holland pepper) and cook till done. Ready to go. No garam masala etc. is needed, because methi is highly aromatic and anything else will only take away from the fragrance. The red pepper along with tomatoes adds color to the vibrant green sabzi. Serve hot with chapati, paratha or daal-chawal.



This recipe also works well with spinach and other squashes like doodhi. In that case you might like to add some garam masala. Fresh methi leaves have slight bitter (kasaila, not kadwa) taste-if you don't like slightly bitter flavor then you may like to go light on methi. Frozen methi isn't bitter. I enjoy the slightly bitter flavor with parathas a lot :).


Next: Tomatar-soya wadi di kadhi : For JFI tomato.

12 comments:

TNL said...

now thats one creative dish, you gave me the recipe before...Now I get to see it!

I love this kinds of blends with chapatis. Shukriya, Surili!

musical said...

Thans Trupti :).

This is perfect winter time treat for brunch :).

Richa said...

haanji.

subzi sounds yummy. i love methi and have some in the fridge, will definitly try it. BTW frozen methi naal i always find that it has too many 'sticks' which i'm not fond of. tussi keda brand prefer kardeo' ?
thanks!

musical said...

Haan Richa,

Forzen methi da thoda problem eho e ki sticks hundiyan ne. Par Swad brand di methi changi nikaldi e, usually. Ashoka was fine, par sticks bahut si. Anyway, this time i used fresh methi: for a change this one was very fragrant. i have had times when fresh methi didn't smell so good.....for me Methi has to fill my whole kitchen with the aroma, else its not methi.

Enjoy.

shilpa said...

Hey Musical,

I made this subji last evening. I have eaten both vegetables many times but never together. It was v. good.

musical said...

Hey Shilpa,

Welcome to my corner, dear. So sorry to not have replied the comment before.....i guess i should creat a link for the latest comments :-D

i am so glad that you loved it.....really, it means a lot to me.

TBC said...

Hi Musical,
This is such a different combination of veggies. I am going to try it out one of these days. Thanks for the recipe!

musical said...

Thanks, TBC! Do try it, it tastes good! and i really loved your blog, dear!

Paru said...

I tried your sabzi but I used frozen methi (one pack) it became too kadvi. Any ideas how to make it less kadvi?

Thanks,
Paru

musical said...

Paru:

Thanks for trying the recipe. Methi leaves are slightly bitter in taste, however the brand of methi i use (in case i run out of fresh)-is the Swad brand which is not bitter, as in like raw karela bitter! Some souring agent like lime juice/amchoor will help, along with a pinch of sugar, if you don't enjoy the taste of methi leaves. Also if your brand of frozen leaves are too bitter, then reduce the amount.

Unknown said...

Hey Musical,

I tried your recipe last night and it turned out awesome. I just omitted the onions and added red chilli flakes. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.

geet said...

Hi I just tried your recipe......didn't had the fresh methi leaves handy so I used kasuri methi....soaked for 10 mins around 1/4 cup .....it came very nice.....thanks for introducing to such a nice n unique combination of sabji :)