SAAGU (MIXED VEGETABLE)

Actually this is not only the favourite of mine, but everybody's. As a young girl I used to consume three chapatis in place of usual two, if there was saagu as a dish. Ajji makes wonderful saagu and you know that.


 Nutrition-wise also this is very good since it contains different varieties of  vegetables.


The vegetables that are suitable to prepare saagu are;

Cabbage
String beans
Chow Chow (seeme badane kai)
Peas
Corn
Beetroot
Carrot
Potato
Cauliflower

Cut the vegetable to about 1cm square pieces. There is no rule for the quantity of each vegetable to be taken, but suppose you have cut vegetables to fill a 1 litre container, let there be just one small potato and about 2" square piece of beetroot. This small piece will just give a good colour to the saagu.

Other Ingredients for masala (to be ground into a paste) :

Grated coconut 1 cup
Onion 1 midium, sliced
Roasted gram dal 2 level table spoons
Cinnamon 1" piece
Cumin 1 teaspoon
Ginger 1 inch
Green chilly 1

For seasoning:

Oil 2 teaspoons
Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves 5-6
Haldi 1 pinch
Garlic 2-3 pods finely cut (if you like garlic)
Onion 1 big (finely cut)

You also need salt, one or two cups of water and a teaspoon of sugar

Method:

Cook all the vegetables in a microwave or in a pressure cooker. Take take care that it is not over cooked. In fact except potato, you can just half cook the vegetables such that one should be able to recognise each vegetable in the ready dish. Moreover, I feel it gives a better taste and the vitamins are also well retained thus.

Now keep a kadai on the flame and add oil. When hot, add mustard. When it sputters add curry leaves, cut garlic and onions and fry for one or two minutes. Add haldi, mix well and add the cooked vegetables. Add salt to taste. Mix well and add the ground masala. Add about a cup of water and mix well and bring it to boil. Let it boil for two minutes. It becomes very thick, add half or one cup of water more and bring to boil. Finally add a teaspoon of sugar.

This is a sabji which is a bit liquidy, but there will be no gravy separately. You can make out in the picture. It is a wonderful accompaniment for plain parathas and pooris.