Vegetable jhalfrezi with pomegranates

By: Anjum Anand
From: Anjum's Indian Vegetarian Feast
Serves: 4
Photographer: Emma Lee

This is a tomato-based curry where the vegetables take centre stage, retaining their own textures and flavours. You really can make a jhalfrezi with any vegetables as long as you use the same volume; I have listed a few options just to give you some ideas. Look for a good mix of colours, shapes and textures. If you can find baby vegetables, it will make this even more special. Only use pomegranate seeds if they are ripe, otherwise they add too much sourness. I like this quite spicy, so like to add crushed chillies at the end, but I leave that up to you and your palate. Serve with naan.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient

For the sauce

Quantity	Ingredient
2	large ripe tomatoes, quartered
5 tablespoons	vegetable oil
15g	root ginger, half grated, half sliced into fine julienne, (peeled weight)
4	fat garlic cloves, peeled and grated
4-5	green chillies, whole but pierced with the tip of a knife
2 rounded teaspoons	ground coriander
1 teaspoon	garam masala
	salt, to taste
1/2	small red pepper, finely sliced
2 teaspoons	dried fenugreek leaves, crushed
1/4 teaspoon	crushed red chillies, (optional)
2 tablespoons	single cream, (optional)
good pinch	dried pomegranate powder, (optional)
handful	pomegranate seeds, (optional)

For the vegetables (you need 3 handfuls of prepared vegetables)

Quantity	Ingredient
	fingerling or baby potatoes, cooked, peeled, then halved or quartered lengthways
	carrots or parsnips, peeled, halved lengthways, then sliced at an angle
wedge	butternut squash or pumpkin, peeled, cut into wedges
	japanese aubergines, quartered lengthways
	courgettes, sliced at an angle
	broad beans, trimmed
or	french beans, trimmed and halved
or	sugar snap peas, trimmed

Method

Using a stick blender, blend the tomatoes until smooth. Heat the oil in a large non-stick saucepan. Add the grated ginger and garlic and cook, stirring often, until the garlic is cooked and starts to colour, around one minute. Add the green chillies, tomatoes, ground coriander, garam masala and salt. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer until the tomatoes have completely reduced and the sauce releases oil on the base of the pan. Taste; it should seem harmonious.
Meanwhile, cook your chosen vegetables. Bring a pot of water to the boil and salt lightly. Add your vegetables in order of how long they take to cook. I add the starchier vegetables first (here the potatoes, carrots and squash), then follow five minutes later with the aubergines and courgettes, then one to two minutes later with the beans and peas. Cook until they are ready, another two minutes or so. Check as you cook. Drain, but reserve the cooking water.
When ready to serve, add the red pepper strips, ginger julienne, fenugreek leaves and 150 ml of the vegetable cooking liquor to the sauce and return to a boil. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding the crushed chilli, if using. Add the vegetables and stir well to coat them in the light tomato sauce. Splash in a little water if the sauce is too thick; it should be of coating consistency. Ladle into a warmed serving dish, spoon over the cream in a circular pattern, sprinkle the pomegranate powder over the cream so you can see it and then do the same with the pomegranate seeds, if using. Serve.