Panchmisheli Tarkari (Bengali Style Mixed Veg)

10:44 AM


The last couple of weeks have been very hectic yet fun. As told earlier had to arrange everything in the house and there were big big cleaning works. Then we went for a weekend trip to Yercaud that we stretched for additional two days, came back with another big bag of laundry finally today I can sit back and make this post. But am writing this with a heavy heart as my kid brother went home today. After almost three months with family today we feel very lonely. The baby is opening doors and looking for his Chhoto Mamu (younger maternal uncle) and in the evening he brought his shoes to his father and pointed to the main door to take him out as his Mamu used to do this past couple of months.  My Brother could literally be called a big guy with a heart of a little boy. He came here after almost 2 years and this time enjoyed it to the fullest so that way am very happy. As like everyone in my family he is a total foodie and I cooked some special items some of which he liked a lot. I am going to post those one by one in the coming weeks. But today I present to you a very simple yet very tasty and flavourful dish.  This weekend we dint got for our weekly vegetable shopping so the fridge had nothing but some odd vegetables like half of a carrot, half of ridge gourd, a little piece of pumpkin etc. Hubby went to the Airport with brother so thought of making a quick dish with these.

Paanch in Bengali means five and misheli means medley or mixture so Panchmisheli tarkari means a dish cooked with five vegetables. Though no one actually will stop you if you want to make it with more vegetable, even I always cook it with 7-8 veggies. Like my last post this one is also a peasant dish and they add whatever little bit of vegetables they have, a little bit of this and that to prepare something delectable to eat with rice. Another variation of this dish without onions are cooked during Puja to offer to God as Neivedya. Before I start with the recipe let me warn you that it’s nowhere close to that cream laden spicy omnipresent restaurant staple North Indian Mixed Veg. This is very light dish but without any compromise with the taste. This is a dish where the vegetables beautifully mingle with each other and provides a creamy texture.  This is one of my most favorite veggie dish and could be eaten with both roti and rice. We had a satisfying meal with rice, lentil, this veggie and some leftover fish curry.  Hubby renamed this dish as Fridge raided Curry.

Here is how I made it

Panchmisheli Tarkari
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
Take 2 cups of cubed potato, pumpkin, ridge gourd, cauliflower, cabbage, carrot, beans or whatever veggies you like.
Tomato: 1 medium
Ginger: ½ piece; grated
Onion: 1 medium; chopped
Panchforon: 1 tsp
Red chillies: 2 pieces
Peanuts: handful
Oil: 1 tbsp
Salt
Sugar: ½ tsp
turmeric

Method:
Dry roast the pea nuts and coarsely ground in a mortar n pestle. keep aside.

Heat the oil in a kadai or heavy bottomed pan. Add the panchforon and red chillies. Once the aroma hits you add in the chopped onions.

Fry till the onions change colour then add all the veggies, salt, turmeric, whole tomato and the grated ginger. Mix well and cover.

Let it cook on medium flame and stir in between.

Once the veggies are soft (almost 10 minutes) mash the tomato with the back of spatula. Mix everything together and add 1 cup water.

Again cover and cook on medium till the veggies are cooked and the gravy coats the veggies.

Add the sugar, ground pea nuts, mix well and check the seasoning.
Serve hot with rice, roti or paratha.


This curry tastes best when eaten fresh and hot. if you want to keep it in fridge then next day while heating add fresh tempering.

Tips: you can try any combination of veggies in this dish but potato, pumpkin and ridge gourd is what gives it the creamy texture.

You can also add peanuts or soaked chickpeas.

For non vegetarian version add a handful of prawns or small fishes. In that case add the non veg items after frying the onion. Cook for some time and then add veggies.

Sometime I make coarse paste of prawn heads and mix it in the curry.

Some veggies that mingle in the dish well are potato, pumpkin, ridge gourd, drumsticks, cauliflower, cabbage, cluster beans, French beans, carrot, egg plant, parwal etc.


Am sending this to an event which is very close to my heart, Green Gourmet at Preeti's Write Food.


Also to Priya's Healing Food Onion an event started by Siri of Siri's Corner.

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33 comments

  1. Very colorful, healthy and easy to prepare veg....

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  2. Sayantani,
    Perfect for hot summer days.Looks delicious.And oh! bachara beshi miss korey nijer mama and mashi der bodhaye :)..
    hugs and smiles

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  3. Photo gorgeous and so is the dish, very tasty and chockful of veggies which I love. Enjoy.

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  4. That is a colorful veg preparation... Thanks for visiting my blog... Appam is easy to make with the rice flour and you could use non-stick Kadhai... best would be slightly deep round bottom kadhais... try it and let me know how it comes out for you...

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  5. Vwry colorful, healthy and simple veg curry .

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  6. Dear Sayantani
    Very nice dish indeed. I like the use of Onion and Peanut, never tried these 2 before in this type of Tarkari. Will try soon.
    Have a nice sunday

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  7. Bari faka hoye gele ki kharap lage tai na? Amar ekhane ekta batch giye ekhon arekta ashar pala. :-)
    I love the taste of cooked peanuts in anything ... panchmisheli torkari dewar kotha kokhono bhabini! Eta luchir shonge darun. :-)

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  8. Looks colourful, loved that you added peanuts in it, give such a nice taste...

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  9. Aami peanut kokhono add korini.ebar korbo aar aami onion dina. Garom diner sidhe sadha tarkari-e bhalo lage...bhat aar daler sathe.

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  10. This looks lovely! Thanks for sending this to GG-1.

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  11. Delicious mixed veg, the pic itself makes me drool...

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  12. Ja lagche na Panchmisheli tarkari ta !!! Non veg ke tekka ditey parbe ...Garom bhaat er shaathe darun lagbe khete. Ami next time peanuts add koro dekhbo.... Ki balo banglore bloggi der meet korar bepare?

    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

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  13. there is always a heavy heart when a family member goes back home after a long stay. This panchmisheli curry looks delicious, i like your husband's renaming of it more though :)

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  14. Love the name of this dish..It looks healthy, tasty and colorful.

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  15. Colourful dish with a peanut touch. Definitely it would have tasted yummy !!

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  16. I can totally understand your feeling, after spending precious time with family you can hardly get over it.

    Liked your version of mix veg !

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  17. this looks colourful n healthy....i love its name....very unique..
    Inviting you personally to bread mania event
    http://www.athidhyam.com/2010/05/event-bread-mania.html

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  18. tarkari looks delicious..love the combo used..thanks for sharing this!

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  19. Hi Sayantani, this looks simple to make with delicious flavours and the best part so many veggies going into it.
    So good you could spend so much time with bro, lucky u.

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  20. Thats such a colourful vegetable dish! Some rice and this curry would make a perfect meal for me :-)

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  21. Another authentic one, looks and sounds great Sayantani..thanks for sharing..

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  22. this Bengali style mix veg looks delicious i like this curry

    nice post and wonderful recipe

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  23. I am always up for mixed veggie curry. It looks yummy...

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  24. You know, this is right up my alley - vegetables, traditional preparation , light for the summer - thanks!! and this is also much in line with my latest post on local cuisine and how its not too difficult to make sure we do our bit to preserve such traditions!

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  25. Panchmishali torkari amar bhishon priyo. Khub sundor bhabe baniyechho r ektu onno dhoroner. Ami tomar recipe ta try korbo. Dekhei to khete ichhe korchhe.

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  26. Lovely side dish .I can imagine the taste of this with piping hot rice /Chapathi..Yumm.Thanks for sending both the entries for the event..

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  27. tried this receipe tuday n it taste awesome...thanks for d post.........

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