Veg Sagu | Vegetable Sagu

Ingredients

for spice paste

• 1 inch cinnamon
• 2 green cardamoms
• 2 to 3 cloves
• 2 marathi moggu (kapok buds)
• 18 to 20 whole black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 1 tablespoon roasted chana dal
• 3 to 4 small garlic cloves, chopped
• ½ inch ginger, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves, for a more green color you can add 3 to 4 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves
• ¼ cup grated coconut
• 1 or 2 green chilies, for a spicy taste add 3 green chilies
• ¼ cup water or as required for grinding

other ingredients for veg sagu

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon split husked black gram (urad dal)
• 1 spring curry leaves or 8 to 10 curry leaves
• 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
• 1 to 2 dry red chillies
• 66 grams onions or 1 medium to large onion or ⅓ to ½ cup finely chopped onions
• 1 pinch turmeric powder
• 44 grams tomatoes or 1 small tomato or ¼ cup diced tomatoes
• 1.5 to 2 cups of mixed veggies like potatoes, carrots, french beans, cauliflower, green peas
• 1.25 cups water to be added for cooking veggies
• salt as required
• ½ to ⅔ cup water to be added later

for garnish

• 1 to 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (cilantro leaves)
• 10 to 12 cashews sauteed in 1 to 2 teaspoons oil

Steps

making spice paste for veg sagu

1. Gather the ingredients for the veg sagu's ground spice paste. Leave out the marathi moggu (kapok buds) if unavailable.
2. Put all of them into a grinder jar or a chutney grinder jar.
3. Grind with 1/4 cup water to a smooth paste, then leave aside.

making veg sagu

1. Rinse, peel and chop 1 medium to large onion, 1 small tomato and the vegetables you plan to use. Allow 1.5 to 2 cups mixed vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, french beans, cauliflower, green peas, chayote squash or capsicum. Leave them aside.
2. Get 2 tablespoons oil hot in a thick-bottomed pan. Turn the flame down, add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds and let them crackle.
3. As the mustard seeds start crackling, put in 1 teaspoon urad dal.
4. Fry the urad dal until the lentils are golden.
5. Put in 8 to 10 curry leaves, a pinch of hing and 1 to 2 dry red chillies. Sauté a few seconds, or until the red chilies change color.
6. Add the onions that were chopped earlier.
7. Sauté over low to medium flame until the onions become translucent.
8. Mix in a pinch of turmeric powder thoroughly.
9. Put in the chopped mixed vegetables and tomatoes.
10. Stir the vegetables together with the rest of the tempering.
11. Pour in 1.25 cups water.
12. Add salt to suit your taste.
13. Put the lid on the pan and cook over low to medium flame, checking the vegetables a couple of times as they cook.
14. The ground masala paste goes in once the vegetables are almost cooked.
15. Use 1/2 to 2/3 cup water to rinse the grinder jar's sides and pour it into the pan. If all the paste has already been scraped out, add 1/2 to 2/3 cup water straight to the pan instead.
16. Stir everything together thoroughly.
17. Cover with the pan's lid and simmer over low flame for about 7 to 8 minutes, until the gravy thickens a little and oil specks appear on top.
18. Serve the veg sagu hot with pooris, chapatis, paratha, set dosa, poha dosa or neer dosa. Add chopped coriander leaves and some fried cashews as garnish when serving.
19. For the cashew garnish, fry 10 to 12 cashews in 1 to 2 teaspoons oil. In the described preparation, the cashews were deep-fried in the same oil used for the pooris.