Veg Kadai is a warm and spicy vegetable curry that pairs well with rice or roti – If you are looking to make a restaurant style Veg Kadai curry, this is the recipe for you
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Veg Kadai is a medley of vegetables in a flavour rich curry, served at Indian restaurants as a side dish to go with rotis, naan or rice.
This dish will be on every menu that serves North Indian cuisine and I’ve loved to order it every single time. This dish comprises several vegetables, cooked together in a spicy and flavour rich tomato sauce and yogurt enhanced by the addition of several spice mixes.
If you’ve ever eaten Veg Kadai and want to replicate it at home, this is the recipe for you.
Ingredients for Restaurant Style Kadai Veg
Veg Kadai, as the name suggests, needs a lot of vegetables. The vegetables you may use are carrots, potatoes, peas, baby corn and capsicum. The other vegetables you can use are cauliflower and broccoli. (If using blanch them in a pot of boiling water with some salt before adding them along with the rest of the vegetables)
Onions, Green chillies and Ginger-garlic paste – A good curry base must always contain these ingredients.
Tomatoes – Here, we are going to use the pureed version of tomatoes.
Curd – Since we will be adding quite a lot of spices, the curd in this recipe helps reduce the intensity of the spices while giving the gravy some thickness.
Spice powders – For the recipe, I have used – turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and jeera powder. I will also be using garam masala in the end as a taste enhancer.
Whole Spices – In this recipe, I am only using bay leaves. But you may also use some cloves to take it to the next level.
Coriander leaves – Washed and dried coriander is an ingredient that I always have prepped in my fridge as, fresh herbs make a lot of difference to the taste when added. And, I frankly love the taste of coriander leaves.
How to make Veg Kadai Curry?
The prep work for Veg Kadai
The first step is to wash, peel and cut all the vegetables that you are planning to use. Wash, wipe, and peel the skin off carrots and potatoes. Remove the ends of the beans.
Cut the potatoes, carrots, beans and baby corn into 2 inch sticks. It is important to do this step because it enhances the visual and textural experience of eating the vegetables.
If you are planning to use green peas, I recommend using frozen green peas. You can just grab a handful from the packet and place it in hot water for it to thaw out. Using frozen peas saves a step since they are already cooked. You can use fresh peas too, if using you have to add it to the pan along with all the vegetables.
Chop the onions into thin slices, the same size as the rest of the vegetables. Slice up a couple of green chillies too.
Take 2-3 medium-sized tomatoes or 2 large tomatoes and remove the top off. Dice them into quarters and put it in a blender. Make a puree of the tomatoes and keep aside.
If you are using paneer, take about 100g of paneer and place it in warm water. This helps the paneer soften up.
Take the curd out of the fridge too. Keep it whipped and ready.
Wash, dry and finely chop the coriander leaves and keep it ready.
Cooking the Veg Kadai curry
Place a medium-large sized pan or kadai on a flame. Add 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil and allow it to warm up. Once the oil is warm, add the bay leaves and cloves. Toast the spices for 10-15 seconds.
Next, you can add the sliced onions and green chillies. Saute them until the onions become tender. To enhance the flavor of the onions, you can sauté them until they turn brown. It will take at least 15 minutes – it’s up to you, okay?
Next, ginger-garlic paste and cook that for about 20 seconds. Be careful, as GG paste usually tends to sizzle when it comes to contact with a hot pan.
You can now add all the spice powders, one by one. Mix all the ingredients that you’ve added so far. You will mostly see that the mixture you have in the pan is dry. So, you can now add 2-3 tablespoons of water to bring them all together.
Now, add all the vegetables you have prepped. Leave the paneer and capsicum out because these two do not need much cook time.
Sprinkle about one teaspoon of salt, mix everything well and cover the pan with a lid. Check in between to make sure they are getting steam cooked. Now, you can pour in the tomato puree and mix them well too.
Close the lid again and cook until all the vegetables are firm but tender. Once all the vegetables are cooked, add the whipped curd and mix well. Take a taste of the gravy and make sure the spice and salt levels are up to your liking.
Finishing touches to the Veg Kadai
You need not cover the kadai now. Add the cooked peas, capsicum and paneer into the (almost) ready Veg kadai and mix. The capsicum will cook in the ambient heat in the pan. Sprinkle in the garam masala – this makes sure that there is a nice kick to the curry.
Mix for another minute and turn off the flame. Garnish your Veg Kadai with coriander leaves.
When serving, if you feel like it, you may squeeze in some lemon juice just before serving.
Shelf Life and Storage for Veg Kadai
Veg Kadai is best eaten hot off the stove and immediately after its prepared. But you can store it in the fridge for a couple of days if you have leftovers.
The paneer might get rubbery and when you reheat the Kadai Veg, it will not have the same oomph as hot off the stove.
For the beginners
If you feel the prep work is too much, stick to the simple vegetables of carrots, potatoes, baby corn and beans. If you can prep the ingredients much ahead of time, putting together the curry will not be a hassle.
You can also use a few spice powders if you don’t have them all. Remember, you can always add, but you can’t take away, so be mindful of how much spice powder you are adding into the gravy.
Do a taste check in between to make sure it is to your liking.
It’ll be great if you tag me on Instagram @ Makepotato, when you make this recipe.
Please do leave a rating and a comment if you can, on the recipe below – it will help me grow and reach more food lovers like you.
Recipe For Veg Kadai
Restaurant Style Kadai Veg
Ingredients
Vegetables
- 1 Onion large, thinly sliced
- 2 Green Chillies cut lengthwise
- 1 Carrot large, cut lengthwise
- 7-8 Beans cut to 2 inches
- 1 Potato large, cut lengthwise
- 10-15 florets Cauliflower cleaned and soaked in salted warm water
- 100 g Peas frozen variety
- ½ Capsicum cut leangthwise
- 100 g Paneer cut lengthwise to the size of vegetables
- 2 Tomatoes pureed
Spice Powders
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1-1.5 tsp Red Chilli powder depending on you need
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- 1 tsp Jeera powder
- 1-¾ tsp Garam Masala powder
- 1 tsp Salt adjust accordingly
For the Gravy
- 2-3 tbsp Cooking oil
- 2 Bay Leaves dried
- 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
- ½ cup Curd whipped
Garnish
- Coriander Leaves for garnish
- 1 Lemon juice
Instructions
- Wash, wipe, and cut all the vegetables you are going to use. Cut the paneer as well and keep aside.
- Place a pan on medium heat and add the cooking oil. Once the oil is hot, add in the bay leaves and cloves.
- Toast the spices in the oil for less than 20 seconds and followed by the addition of sliced onions and slit green chillies. Cook the onions until tender or if you wish for more flavour, you may even brown the onions.
- Once the onions are soft, add the ginger-garlic paste and allow it cook for 10-15 seconds.
- Next, add all the spice powders and mix well. The ingredients in the pan might be a little dry, so at this stage add about a tablespoon or two of water and give it a good mix. Cook the spices for a minute on low flame.
- Add all the cut vegetables and mix until all the spice powders have coated well to the vegetables. (Do not add the capsicum and paneer at this stage)Sprinkle some salt on top and mix that in as well. Close the lid and allow it to cook for 3-4 minutes while stirring it occasionally.
- After a few minutes, add the prepared tomato puree and mix well. Cover the lid and allow it to cook for 3-4 minutes more.Check for how well the vegetables have cooked so as to ensure that they do not get mushy.
- At this stage, add the whipped curd to the curry and mix well along with the vegetables and tomato puree.
- Once the vegetables are tender but firm, add the capsicum and paneer to the pan and give it a good mix. Stir continuously so that the capsicum can cook in the ambient heat.
- The last vegetable to add is the green peas that you have kept cooked and ready. Add them and sprinkle in the garam masala as well.
- Garnish your Veg Kadai Sabzi with finely chopped coriander and a generous squeeze of lemon juice. Your Veg Kadai is ready to be served with roti, naan or rice.
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