Veg Handi

for the cashew paste

• 3 tablespoon cashews or about 20 to 22 cashews
• ½ cup hot water or 125 ml - for soaking
• 3 tablespoon water for blending - you can also use the soaked water instead of plain water

other ingredients for veg handi

• ¼ or ⅓ cup chopped carrots or about 2 small or 1 medium carrot
• ¼ or ½ cup chopped french beans or about 8 to 10 french beans
• ¼ or ⅓ cup chopped potatoes or about 1 medium potato
• ¼ or ⅓ cup green peas, fresh or frozen
• ¼ cup corn kernels - optional
• ¼ or ⅓ cup chopped cauliflower
• ¼ or ⅓ cup sliced mushrooms or 6 to 8 button mushrooms (optional) * for cooking mushrooms check notes
• ¼ cup paneer (cubed), Indian cottage cheese - optional
• 1 medium onion or about ½ cup finely chopped onion
• 1 medium tomato or about ½ cup finely chopped tomatoes
• 3 to 4 medium garlic + ½ inch ginger - crushed to a paste or 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste (adrak lahsun ka paste)
• 1 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves (cilantro leaves)
• 1 teaspoon chopped mint leaves
• 1 to 2 green chilies, slit or sliced (hari mirch)
• 1 cup water or 250 ml water
• 3 tablespoon low fat cream - 25% to 35% fat
• 1 tablespoon curd - optional (yogurt)
• ½ teaspoon red chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
• ¼ teaspoon garam masala
• ½ to ¾ teaspoon coriander powder (ground coriander)
• ½ teaspoon kasuri methi - crushed (dry fenugreek leaves)
• 1 pinch nutmeg powder or grated nutmeg
• 2 tablespoon butter
• salt as required
• sugar as required - you can add about ½ teaspoon of sugar or as per your taste, (optional)

whole spices

• 1 small to medium tej patta (indian bay leaf)
• 2 cloves
• ½ inch cinnamon
• 2 single strands of mace
• 2 green cardamoms