Veg sagu is a creamy coconut+spices based delicious curry made with mix veggies.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 40 minutes
  • Total time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Karnataka, South Indian

Ingredients

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

Method

making spice paste for veg sagu

  1. First take all the ingredients that will be needed to make the ground paste for veg sagu. If you do not have marathi moggu (kapok buds), then skip it.
  2. Add everything in a grinder jar or a chutney grinder jar
  3. Add 1/4 cup water and grind to a smooth paste. Keep aside.

making veg sagu

  1. Now rinse, peel and chop 1 medium to large onion, 1 small tomato and the veggies that you will be using. You will need 1.5 to 2 cups of mix veggies. You can use veggies like potatoes, carrots, french beans, cauliflower, green peas, chayote squash, capsicum. Keep aside.
  2. In a thick bottomed pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil. Lower the flame and add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds and let them crackle.
  3. As soon as they begin to crackle, add 1 teaspoon urad dal.
  4. Fry the urad dal lentils till they become golden.
  5. Then add 8 to 10 curry leaves, a pinch of hing, 1 to 2 dry red chillies. Saute for a few seconds or till the red chilies change color.
  6. Then add the chopped onions.
  7. Saute the onions on a low to medium flame, till they turn translucent.
  8. Then add a pinch of turmeric powder. Mix well.
  9. Now add the chopped mix vegetables and tomatoes.
  10. Mix the vegetables with the rest of the tempering mixture.
  11. Now add 1.25 cups water.
  12. Season with salt as per taste.
  13. Cover the pan with its lid and cook the veggies on a low to medium flame. Do check a couple of times when the veggies are cooking.
  14. When the vegetables are almost cooked, add the ground masala paste.
  15. Rinse the sides of the grinder jar with 1/2 to 2/3 cup water and add this to the pan. If you have scraped the entire ground paste from the jar, then just add 1/2 to 2/3 cup water directly in the pan.
  16. Mix very well.
  17. Cover the pan with its lid and simmer till the gravy thickens a bit and you see oil specks on top. This will take about 7 to 8 minutes on a low flame.
  18. Serve veg sagu hot with pooris, chapatis, paratha or set dosa, poha dosa or neer dosa. While serving garnish with chopped coriander leaves and some fried cashews.
  19. For frying cashews, just take 10 to 12 cashews and fry them in 1 to 2 teaspoons of oil. Here I have deep fried the cashews as I had made pooris and in the same oil, I fried the cashews.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.