Mix Sabzi
مکس سبزی
Mix sabzi is what many Pakistani homes cook when the vegetable basket has a little of everything: a few potatoes, a carrot or two, some peas, half a cauliflower and a capsicum. It's a semi-dry sabzi, eaten with roti or paratha for lunch or dinner. The secret is adding the vegetables in the order they cook, hardest first, so that every piece is tender at the same moment and nothing turns to mush.
- ⏱ Total: 55 min
- Prep: 20 min
- Cook: 35 min
- Easy
- Serves 5
Method
Tap a step when it is done.
Heat the oil in a over medium-high heat. Add the cumin seeds and, once they crackle, the onion. Fry for 6–8 minutes, stirring, until light golden.
Add the and stir for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, salt, chili powder, turmeric and coriander powder. Do the on medium heat for 6–7 minutes, adding a splash of water if it catches, until the tomatoes melt and oil glistens at the edges.
Add the potatoes and carrots and stir to coat them in the masala. Sprinkle in 3 tablespoons of water, cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
Add the cauliflower and peas and turn them gently through the masala. Cover again and cook on low heat for 8–10 minutes, until a knife slides easily into a potato cube.
Add the capsicum, turn the heat up to medium and cook uncovered for 3–4 minutes, turning gently, until the capsicum is bright green and just tender and any extra moisture has dried.
Sprinkle over the garam masala and green chilies, cover and leave on the lowest heat for 2 minutes. Scatter with coriander and serve with roti or paratha.
Kitchen notes
Cut each vegetable to suit how fast it cooks: carrots smaller than potatoes, cauliflower into small florets. Then they all finish together.
Use only a few spoons of water. The vegetables release their own moisture under the lid, and too much water makes the sabzi soggy.
Frozen peas need only 5 minutes. If using them, add them with the capsicum instead of with the cauliflower.
The everyday fridge-clearing sabzi
Mix sabzi has no fixed recipe, and that’s the point of it. It’s cooked on ordinary weekdays when there’s a bit of several vegetables and not enough of any one to make a dish on its own. In winter the mix leans towards cauliflower, carrots and fresh peas; in summer it might be potatoes, capsicum and green beans. It is eaten mostly with hot roti, sometimes with paratha, and leftovers are often folded into a roll for lunch the next day.
Staged cooking is the whole technique
Every vegetable cooks at a different speed. Potatoes and carrots need the longest, cauliflower and fresh peas a little less, and capsicum only a few minutes. Putting them in one after another, in that order, means nothing is raw and nothing is falling apart when the dish is done. The lid does most of the work: the vegetables steam in the moisture they release, soaking up the masala as they go. A few spoons of water at the start are only there to stop the masala catching before the vegetables let out their own juices.
Variations
- With paneer: add cubes of paneer with the capsicum for a richer version often made for guests.
- Methi touch: rub a teaspoon of between your palms and scatter it over at the end.
- No onion: some homes start straight from cumin and tomatoes, which gives a lighter, tangier sabzi.
Storing and serving
Mix sabzi keeps well in the fridge for 2–3 days in a covered container. Reheat it in a pan over low heat with a spoon of water, turning gently, rather than in the microwave, which makes the potatoes go dry. Serve with roti, a bowl of yogurt and a simple salad of onion and cucumber.
Questions people ask
Which vegetables can I use in mix sabzi?
Almost any firm vegetables: green beans, turnip, sweet corn and cabbage all work. Just add each one according to how long it takes to cook.
Can I make it with gravy?
Yes. After the cauliflower and peas, add 1 to 1.5 cups of hot water and simmer for 10 minutes. It then goes well with plain rice too.
How do I keep the vegetables from turning mushy?
Add them in stages, keep the heat low with the lid on, and turn them with a flat spatula instead of stirring hard.
Nutrition (estimate, per serving)
- Calories
- 260
- Protein
- 5 g
- Fat
- 15 g
- Carbs
- 26 g
