Please excuse me for a very long post but worth reading. During marriage season Tawa Sabzi or Tava Fry Veggies is a common item on the buffet menu. As the name suggest tawa sabzi means array of seasonal veggies that are spread around a hot tawa/griddle and when asked that particular veggie gets all the attention 😉 – it is brought in the center of the griddle; tossed in masala, sprinkled with chaat masala and served to the guests right off the hot tawa. Sounds interesting.. isn’t it? It’s utterly delicious.
I have used all the veggies that were available in the local market but more veggies can be added like arbi, lauki slices, big mirchis and so on. Bitter gourd needs to be marinated in curd and salt for half an hour before being cooked. Curd- salt mixture helps draws out the bitter juices from the bitter gourd.
Traditionally veggies are deep fried for tawa sabzi recipe but to cut down on the calorie count I prefer toasting my veggies in kadhai and oven – the end result is the same. 
Preparing the masala is a standard procedure. Make sure the masala is not too dry before mixing in the veggies. If the masala feels dry, add some water and make it moist, this way veggies can get smeared and coated pretty easily.
When I usually prepare Tawa sabzi for my guests, instead of doing the traditional way (spreading veggies around the tawa) I cook and coat my veggies before hand and then spread it around the hot tawa/griddle. This way my guests find it easier to pick whichever vegetable they like (bhindi being the most liked one and karela the least 😉 )
This recipe can be prepared without onion and garlic. Follow this link and choose the ingredients you want to use for your gravy. Do give it a try and I am sure you are going to love it.
TOATL TIME – 60 MINUTES
- Prep time – Chopping veggies and karela marinade – 20 minutes
- COOK TIME – 40 MINUTES
- Browning of veggies – 20 minutes
- Cooking of Masala – 10-12 minutes
- Assembling of veggies – 10 minutes
Looking for other recipes – Lauki koftas, Paneer tikka masala, Paneer pasanda, Bharwan dum aloo, Kadai paneer,Paneer tikka, Paneer tikka pulao and more….
Tawa Sabzi or Tava Fry Veggies
INGREDIENTS
VEGETABLES
- 5 pieces of Bitter gourd (karela)
- 15-20 pieces of Pearl Onions
- 5 pieces of Baigan
- 12 sticks of Paneer
- 1/2 kg Okra (bhindi) (500 gms.)
- 1 large Potato
- 2 tablespoon Oil
SPICE MIX
- 2 teaspoon Coriander powder (sukha dhaniya)
- 1 teaspoon Roasted cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1 teaspoon Pomegranate seedspowder
- 1/2 - 1 teaspoon Red chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Haldi (Turmeric powder)
- 1 teaspoon Amchur Powder (Mango Powder)
- 1/8 teaspoon Eliachi Powder (Cardamon Powder)
- 1/8 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
- A pinch of Nutmeg powder (Jaiphel)
- 1 teaspoon Chaat Masala
- A pinch of Hing/ Asafoetida
MASALA PREPARATION
- 2 medium Onions, chopped
- 1 teaspoon Ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon Garlic paste
- 1/4 cup Beaten Curd (yogurt)
- 3 large Tomatoes, pureed
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup Cream (optional)
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon Kastoori methi/ dried fenugreek leaves
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoon Oil/Ghee
- 1/2 cup Curd + salt (to marinade Karela)
INSTRUCTIONS
VEGETABLE PREPARATION
- Clean and wash Bitter gourd (karela).
- Using a knife scrape the surface of karela.
- All cleaned bitter gourds.
- Slit them lengthwise, if the seeds are embedded like the one shown in the picture below, leave them inside but if the seeds are hard and big remove them from the karela.
- Take curd in a bowl, add salt and mix. Toss karela in this mixture and coat it well.
- Allow it to sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile let's prep up rest of our ingredients. Clean and wash okra/bhindi.
- Cut them lengthwise. Spread them out on a baking sheet and bake okra pieces at 400 degree F for 20 minutes or until crisp.
- Meanwhile clean and wash baigan. Peel and wash pearl onions. Slice paneer and finally peel, wash and slice potatoes into wedges.
- Heat and grease a kadhai. Add paneer slices and cook till evenly crisp from all the sides. Set them aside.
- Toss pearl onions in the same kadhai and cover and cook till soft and lightly caramelized. Set them aside on a plate.
- Toss potato and baigan in the same kadhai and cook till evenly brown and tender.
- Time to clean and wash karelas. Squeeze out extra water and toss them in the heated kadhai and cook till tender.
- All the veggies are cooked and tender.
SPICES
- Time to assemble all the dry spices.
- Combine them in a bowl...
- And mix them thoroughly.
- All the spices together will make a little less than 1/4 cup of spice mix.
MASALA PREPARATION
- Let's move on to the masala preparation. Chop onions, puree tomatoes and ginger - garlic. You can prepare this recipe without onion and garlic too - follow link in the main post.
- Assemble all the ingredients next to the stove.
- In a kadhai heat oil, add cumin seeds and when they start to sputter mix in ginger garlic paste. Saute for a minute and then stir in chopped onions.
- Cook till onions are translucent - it took me 3 :17 minutes. Mix in tomato puree and cook till all the liquid has evaporated.
- Add curd and mix. Stir in the spice mix and mix till fully blended.
- Add salt and cream and cook till everything is fully blended. If masala feels dry sprinkle some water and keep it moist.
- Finally add kastoori methi and mix thoroughly. Adjust seasonings and let's start assembling the tawa sabzi.
ASSEMBLING TAWA SABZI
- Assembling can be done in two ways. One - assemble all the veggies around a warm tawa in a circle and place the masala in the center.
- Bring veggies one by one coat in masala, sprinkle some chaat masala and serve hot.
- Other way which I use to assemble my tawa sabzi is - by adding 1.5 tablespoon masala for each veggies to the kadhai... (for example 1.5 tablespoon masala for bhindi, 1.5 tablespoon masala for onions, 1.5 tablespoon masala for potatoes and so on..)
- Add veggies one by one, coat them in masala, sprinkle some water and chaat masala. For karelas - coat the inside of karelas with some masala, this way they will not taste bland.
- And spread them all around the hot tawa. This way my guest can pick any veggies they like from the hot tawa and enjoy!!
