Gajar suva sabzi is a dry vegetable dish from the Gujarati cuisine. It is made from carrots with dill leaves and simple spices.
The slight sweetness of carrot is offset by the flavour of dill leaves, with the sourness of the dried mango powder balancing the recipe.
Whilst dill doesn’t seem to be particularly Indian, it is used extensively in Persian cooking. The Persian influence comes from the Parsi community who fled Persia in 800CE. They settled in the Gujarat region, and have had a considerable influence on the regional food tradition. Parsi cuisine was very popular with the British in India.
We serve this as a side dish, or with plain rice as a simple weeknight meal. This dish would also be ideal to serve as part of a vegetarian thali.
It is such a simple recipe to make. The only thing you need to be careful about is cooking the carrots. Overcook the dish and they will become mushy. This is another case where underdone is much better than overdone. You need the carrots to have texture and a little crunch.
This recipe could be oily. You must strain the oil from the carrots when serving. The recipe describes using a slotted spoon to remove the carrots from the oil to serve.
the recipe
about
equipment
equipment
- small frypan
- wide pan with lid
ingredients
ingredients
- 400 g carrots - peeled and cut diagonally into 5mm slices
for cooking
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 3 tbsp gingelly oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp asafoetida powder
- 50 g ginger - finely diced
- 2 green chillies - chopped
- 1 tsp dried mango powder - amchur
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 25 g dill - cleaned and chopped
- 1 tsp salt
for serving
- 1 cup coriander leaves - chopped
instructions
instructions
- Heat a small pan over medium heat. Once hot, put the coriander seeds into the heated pan. Toast the spices for a few minutes until they become aromatic. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Once cooled, grind spices to a fine powder.
- Heat oil in a wide pan on medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and the asafoetida. Quickly stir, then add the ginger and chillies. Stir to coat the ginger with oil and spices.
- When the ginger starts to colour, after about three minutes, add the carrots, ground coriander seeds, amchur and turmeric. Stir well, cover, and reduce heat to low.
- Cook the carrots, stirring often, for about 20 minutes, or until they are just starting to soften.
- One the carrots are cooked enough, increase the heat to high and add the dill and salt. Stir well but gently and cook for two minutes.
to serve
- Use a slotted spoon to lift carrots out of the pan, leaving as much oil behind as possible. Place into a serving dish and garnish with the coriander leaves.
notes
notes
- A medium carrot weighs around 100g (3.5 oz).
- Gingelly oil is Indian sesame oil. It is very different from the Asian sesame oil, being much less intense in flavour. Substitute with vegetable oil if unobtainable.
- Amchur, or dried mango powder, is commonly available from Indian grocers.
private notes
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