Indian style curried turnips more commonly known as shalgam ki sabzi is a simple turnip recipe from North India. It's generally made during winter which is the season of turnips in India.
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Turnip- a vegetable that people either love or hate. I love turnips and every other vegetable that tastes similar like radish and mustard greens.
Today, I am sharing a simple Indian-style curried turnips recipe called shalgam ki sabzi.
Turnip is cooked in a lot of different ways in India- with gravy, without gravy, by mixing with other vegetables or lentils, in mashed form or chopped form, etc.
I love almost every version. But, the recipe which I am sharing here today is one of the most common ways it's cooked in North India.
It's a simple recipe in which turnips are mashed and flavored with Indian spices.
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What goes in Indian style curried turnips?
To make shalgam is sabzi, you will need the ingredients shown below:
Ingredient notes
- Turnips: Try picking fresh turnips which are smaller in size.
- Onion: Preferably red onion. However, if you don't have that, use whichever variety is available.
- Tomato: Use a juicy red variety.
- Ginger garlic paste: You can also use finely chopped ginger and garlic.
- Cooking oil: Generally, mustard oil is used to cook turnips in North India and it tastes the best when cooked in mustard oil. However, you may use any other cooking oil of choice. Non vegans may also use ghee to make it, which is another common cooking medium to cook turnips in North India.
How to make (step by step photo instructions)?
Step 1: Peel the turnips.
Step 2: Chop into small pieces.
Step 3: Heat oil in a pot.
Step 4: Add cumin seeds and let them splutter.
Step 5: Add finely chopped onion.
Step 6: Cook until the onion turns brown.
Step 7: Add ginger garlic paste and chopped green chilies. Saute until the raw smell of garlic goes away.
Steps 8 and 9: Add powdered spices and salt. Saute for a few seconds.
Step 10: Add chopped tomatoes.
Step 11: Cook until the tomatoes turn mushy and are cooked nicely.
Step 12: Add chopped turnips.
Step 13: Mix everything.
Steps 14 and 15: Cook covered for 15-20 minutes or until the turnips are nicely cooked. You may add 1⁄4 cup of water to fasten the cooking process. Keep on stirring in between to make sure that the turnips are not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Steps 16 and 17: Once the turnips are cooked, mash them with the help of a spatula or masher.
Step 18: Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Your Indian-style curried turnips are ready to be served.
How to serve?
Shalgam ki sabzi is generally served with an Indian flatbread like roti or paratha.
You can also serve it with some rice and dal.
Storing tips
To store, allow reaching room temperature then transfer to air-tight containers. Refrigerate for 2-3 days.
Freezing tips
Curried turnip freezes well. To freeze, transfer to a freezer-safe container and put in the freezer for 3-4 months.
To reheat either use a microwave or heat on the stovetop.
On the stovetop you can reheat using any of the following two ways:
- Thaw curried turnips. Heat around 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan. You may temper the oil with some cumin seeds, chopped garlic and ginger for a fresher taste. Add thawed turnip and saute for a few seconds. Cover the pot and cook for a few minutes.
- If you don't want to use more oil, just transfer the frozen curry to a pan. Tightly cover the pan with a lid and cook for a few minutes. Keep checking and stirring in between to make sure it's not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Recipe tips and tricks
- Pick small turnips they are generally fresher and sweeter.
- For an extra kick, you may add some grated ginger after mashing the turnips.
- Cut small pieces of turnips for faster cooking.
- Add around 1⁄4 cup of water to cook turnips. It will fasten the process.
- Mashing the turnips is optional. You may also leave whole pieces of turnips in the dish, if you like.
- I have roughly mashed the turnips, that's the way I prefer making it. If you want, you can mash them more to give a smoother paste like consistency.
- This dish tastes the best if cooked in mustard oil. If using mustard oil, make sure to heat it till smoking point and then switch off the gas. Allow the oil to reach a manageable temperature and then start the cooking process. Just make sure not to leave heating oil on stove unattended, it may catch fire very easily.
- You can also add chopped potatoes along wih turnips in the recipe.
- Sometimes boiled or sauted green peas are also added in this Indian turnip recipe. If you are adding them, add after mashing the turnips.
More curried vegetable recipes from India
Looking for more easy curried vegetable recipes from India? Don't miss checking the following links:
- Aloo baingan
- Aloo beans
- Methi aloo
- Gobhi matar methi
- Bhindi masala
- Beetroot poriyal
- Cabbage poriyal
- Potato curry
- Indian vegetable curry
- Baingan bharta
- Aloo matar gajar
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Recipe
Indian style curried turnips
Equipment
- Cooking pot
Ingredients
- ½ kg turnips peeled and chopped into small cubes
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- 1 tomato finely chopped
- ½ tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
- 1-2 green chili pepper finely chopped
- A handful of fresh cilantro roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder adjust to taste
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon mustard oil/ any other cooking oil of choice
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pot. Add cumin seeds and saute for a few seconds.
- Add chopped onion and saute until they start turning brown.
- Add ginger-garlic paste and green chilies. Saute for a few seconds.
- Once the raw smell of garlic goes away add all the powdered spices and salt. Saute for around 30 seconds.
- Add chopped tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes turn mushy and are nicely cooked.
- Next, add turnip. Mix everything and cover the pot. You can also add around ¼ cup of water to fasten the process of cooking turnip. Cook covered for around 15-20 minutes or until the turnips are nicely cooked and turn soft.
- Mash the turnips with the help of a masher or with the backside of the spatula.
- Add chopped cilantro and mix everything.
- Enjoy with any Indian bread.
Notes
- Mashing turnip is not mandatory, if you like, you can keep turnip cubes in curry.
- Boiled/ sauteed green peas also taste very good in the curry. You can add them in the end after mashing the turnip.
- If your turnips are not very fresh and moist then add some water to cook them. Adding water will also fasten the process.
- More recipe tips and tricks are given in the post above. Please follow them to make this recipe.
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