I have been wanting to make this recipe for a while now and was searching for a good recipe to play with when I came across this recipe from Sanjeev Kapoor’s website. I mostly adhered to his recipe, but to make it healthier, omited khoya or dried evaporated milk solids and fresh cream, but instead used a low fat home made yoghurt to replace the cream.

Veg Jaipuri

Ingredients:

• 2 cup chopped mixed vegetables (I used cauliflowers, potatoes, frozen peas, french beans and green bell peppers, but you can use others also to give it more colour)
• 1 cup frozen paneer
• 3 tbsp ghee
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 6-8 cashew nuts
• 4 green chillies
• a few strands saffron
• 3 medium sized onions, chopped finely
• 5-6 pods garlic
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 2-3 large tomatoes, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup beaten plain yoghurt
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tbsp raisins
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves

Method:

• Chop the vegetables into bit sized pieces. Soak the paneer in hot water for 20-30 minutes, then chop them into bit sized pieces and keep aside.
• Heat a pan and when warm, add one tbsp ghee and sauté the coriander seeds, cashewnuts and green chilliesfor two minutes. Grind all of this with saffron into a smooth paste.
• In another smaller blender, blend together the ginger and garlic into a smooth paste and keep aside.
• Heat the remaining ghee in a pan. Sauté the onions till they turn translucent. Add the the ginger-garlic paste and stir for a few minutes till they turn light golden in colour. Add tomatoes and garam masala powder and cook till the tomatoes are pulpy.
• Add the chopped vegetables, salt, the ground paste, raisins and one cup of water and simmer for five to seven minutes.
• When almost done, add the beaten yoghurt and the paneer and let it come to a slow simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes and switch off the gas.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with any Indian bread or rice.