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 Indian vegetable dishes are easy to cook and require some spices to enhance the flavour of the savour. Some spices, such as turmeric, cayenne pepper, ginger powder and mango powder are often added with or after the vegetables, because they burn so easily. The heat is then reduced and the vegetables are cooked in their own moisture and vapour. Finally the heat is increased and the vegetables go through a second stir-frying, to get nicely browned and develop a beautiful shiny glaze. Sometimes a little oil or ghee is added to the vegetables at the end, to increase the glaze. Vegetables cooked thus have a roasted flavour and very soft texture, though the pieces hold their shape.
Some vegetables, such as potatoes, yams, plantain (green banana) and beetroot are often cooked prior to stir-frying. This is done to preserve the full robust aroma of fried spices, as these vegetables require a lot of water and time to cook and prolonged moist cooking robs the spices of much of their fried flavour.
Vegetables in Indian food find their mention in Sanskrit and other literatures as well. Ancient literatures show the ways of preparation of many vegetables. The Manasollasa uses the generic term pude for a delicacy of mixed fried vegetables folded into a turmeric leaf and then steamed; Chavundaraya’s Lokopakara mentions thirty-one vegetables in one chapter on cooking, and Mangarasa’s Supa Shastra has a long chapter on the cooking of vegetables. |
