Mixed sabzi (mixed vegetable curry) is a colourful dish, made by sautéing potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, and peas in a rich blend of spices until tender. Thanks to the wide variety of vegetables present in mixed sabzi, this curry is packed with a broad range of nutrients.

This is a dry curry, so it pairs best with toast or flatbread.

What is Mixed Sabzi?

Sabzi is a Hindi and Urdu term which means ‘vegetables’. In South Asian cuisine, mixed sabzi is a dish of vegetables sautéed in masala (blend of spices).

These vegetables typically include potatoes, carrots, peas, and cauliflower, though other vegetables are also added depending on personal preference.

All ingredients required for mixed sabzi (potatoes, mixed vegetables, sunflower oil, tinned tomatoes, frozen crushed garlic cubes, frozen crushed ginger cubes, yellow onion, spices) — All ingredients (potatoes, mixed vegetables, sunflower oil, tinned tomatoes, frozen crushed garlic cubes, frozen crushed ginger cubes, yellow onion, spices)

Like many other curries, the masala (spice blend) which forms the flavourful base of this curry is made of onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, salt, red chilli, cumin, and coriander.

For this dish, we also add garam masala.

Because this dish is a dry salan (curry), we don’t add much water. This means it can burn easily during the cooking process. For this reason, it is best to use a cast-iron pan to ensure an even distribution of heat.

How I Learned to Cook Mixed Sabzi

Preparation

I started by peeling the potatoes and chopping them into 1-inch cubes, then soaking them in cold water. This slows down the oxidation process that gives the potato cubes a pink tinge over time.

I then peeled and sliced the yellow onions.

Making the Masala

Then I sautéed the onions on medium heat in a cast-iron pan until they turned golden brown.

Once done, I added the red chilli powder, turmeric powder, ground cumin, and ground coriander and mixed. I allowed them to bloom in the warm oil for approximately 30 seconds.

Then I added the garlic and ginger cubes and waited for them to melt.

After this, I mixed in the tinned tomatoes and salt.

Using a food masher, I then mashed the masala to get rid of bits (like tomato cubes).

Cooking the Vegetables

When the masala was ready, I drained the potato cubes I chopped earlier and mixed them with the masala.

I then sautéed the potatoes on medium heat for 5 minutes.

After this, I poured in 100ml of water, covered the pot, and cooked the potatoes for 15 minutes on low heat. I stirred the potatoes every 3 minutes to prevent burning.

Once I had finished briefly cooking the potatoes, I added the garam masala powder, 3 tbsp of the dried fenugreek leaves, and the small green chilli peppers. Then I mixed these with the potatoes.

Finally, I added and combined the frozen mixed vegetables and cauliflower.

After this, I poured in 100ml more water, covered the pot, and cooked the curry on low heat until the potatoes were cooked all the way through (approximately 50 minutes). This is when the potatoes are soft and have no bite, but are not mushy.

I stirred every 3 minutes to prevent burning.

As a final touch, I sprinkled one more tablespoon of dried fenugreek leaves over the curry and mixed.

Serving

Mixed sabzi is served best with toast or flatbread. I wouldn’t recommend rice because mixed sabzi is drier than other curries.

What Has Mixed Sabzi Taught Me?

One of the tougher aspects of learning how to make mixed sabzi was ensuring that all the different vegetables were cooked all the way through without becoming mushy. This meant cooking the potatoes and mixed vegetables at different times.

I also had to make sure that I added enough water to cook the potatoes and vegetables on low heat, but not too much, otherwise it would have made the curry too watery.

To see other vegetable dishes I have learned to cook so far using potatoes, check out my aloo matar (potato and pea curry) recipe!

There are also lots of sweet vegetables in this dish, so I had to add more salt than usual to balance out the flavours.

I didn’t have a smaller cast-iron pan for this recipe, so I ended up making a very large amount of mixed sabzi (12 servings!) which naturally extended the total cooking time. To improve this recipe in the future, I will repeat this method using a smaller pan so that I can test that it works for less servings.