Veg Nizami Handi (Restaurant Style Hyderabadi Mix Veg)
Hyderabadi restaurant mix veg in a tomato-cashew makhani paste and onion-spice curry, with spinach, paneer, and cream.
Equipment
- Blender
- Heavy-bottomed pan, kadhai, or Dutch oven
- Colander
Ingredients
For the makhani paste
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 green cardamom pods
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 4 cloves
- 2 medium tomatoes cubed
- 1/4 cup raw cashews
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 inch ginger chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
For the vegetables
- water for boiling
- 1 teaspoon salt for the blanch water
- 2 cups cauliflower florets
- 1 medium carrot cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 cup green beans chopped
- 1/2 cup green peas fresh or frozen
- 1 packed cup chopped spinach (palak)
For the curry
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 black cardamom pod
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds)
- 1 medium yellow onion finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 medium tomato chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 cup water plus more as needed
- 1 green chili slit
- 6 oz paneer about 170 g, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon kasuri methi crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
- 2 tablespoons cilantro chopped
Instructions
Prep
- If the paneer is packaged, soak the cubes in warm water for 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
- Chop the vegetables so they are similar in size. Keep the spinach separate.
Make the makhani paste
- Heat the butter and 2 teaspoons oil in a pan over medium. Add bay leaf, green cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves. Let them smell fragrant, about 20 seconds.
- Add the cubed tomatoes, cashews, garlic, ginger, 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri chili, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir 1 minute, just until the tomatoes slump. Do not brown them hard.
- Add 1 cup water. Cover and boil 6 to 8 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft and the cashews look plump.
- Cool 5 minutes. Fish out the bay leaf if you want. Blend until completely smooth. The paste should look orange-red and silky. If it is gritty, blend another 30 seconds.
Blanch the vegetables
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and add 1 teaspoon salt.
- Add the cauliflower and carrot. Boil 2 minutes.
- Add the beans and peas. Boil 2 minutes more, until everything is 80 percent done. A fork should meet a little resistance.
- Stir in the spinach for 60 to 90 seconds, just until it wilts and stays green.
- Drain in a colander. Let the vegetables sit so extra water runs off. Do not use this blanch water in the gravy. It tastes thin and vegetal.
Cook the curry
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil and the ghee in a kadhai or Dutch oven over medium. Add bay leaf, black cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, and ajwain. Let them crackle, about 20 seconds.
- Add the onion and ginger-garlic paste. Cook until the onion is golden, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Add turmeric, 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili, coriander, and ground cumin. Stir 20 seconds.
- Add the chopped tomato and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook until the tomato is soft and the fat shows at the edges.
- Stir in the makhani paste. Cook 4 to 6 minutes, stirring, until oil specks show. If it sticks, splash in a tablespoon of water.
- Add the drained vegetables and toss so they are coated.
- Add 1 cup water and the slit chili. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes. Loosen with a splash more water only if the gravy looks tight.
- Add the paneer and cream. Simmer on low 3 to 4 minutes, just until the cubes are hot. Do not boil hard.
- Stir in the sugar, crushed kasuri methi, garam masala, and cilantro. Taste. Add a pinch of salt if the cashews taste shy.
Serve
- Spoon into a warm bowl. Serve hot with naan, roti, or jeera rice.
Notes
Blanch to 80 percent. Soft vegetables turn to mash in the simmer.
Drain well. Wet veg waters the gravy and no amount of cream fully fixes it.
Palak goes in last, 1 to 2 minutes only, or the curry turns khaki.
Cook the dual gravy to oil specks before the vegetables go in.
Frozen peas are fine. Add them late so they stay bright.
No paneer: skip it, or use extra cauliflower and a handful of cashews.
For a Jain plate, skip onion and garlic. Boil extra ginger and a green chili with the tomatoes and cashews, bloom a pinch of hing with the ajwain, and carry on.
Vegan: skip paneer, use oil instead of ghee and butter, and finish with cashew cream instead of dairy cream.
Some cooks deep-fry the vegetables. It tastes richer. I blanch them at home so the gravy stays the star.
Gravy keeps 2 days in the fridge without the vegetables and paneer. Fold those in when you reheat. I do not freeze this one. The cream splits.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!