Vegetable Salna/Gravy- For Parotta

The Salna refers to a liquidy stew with vegetables and seasoned with spices. Its very famous in the street shops of South India and mostly natives like this kind of food! I like them too and I try to imitate them as much as I could so that I don’t have worry later about how hygienic they are!

Ingredients:

Mixed Vegetables-2 cups (I used carrot, beans, potato & cauliflower)

Soya chunks-1/2 cup

Onion-2, sliced

Mint leaves-1/2 cup

Curry leaves-1 sprig

Coriander leaves-to garnish

Oil-2 tbsp

Salt-as needed

To Roast & Grind:

Coconut- ¼ cup, grated

Onion-1, roughly chopped

Tomatoes-3, roughly chopped

Ginger-1 inch piece

Garlic-2 flakes

Coriander leaves-1/4 cup

Red chili powder-1 & ½ tsp

Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

Coriander powder- 2 tsp

Cumin powder-1/2 tsp

Cinnamon-1 inch stick

Cloves-2

Cardamom-1

Black peppercorns-1/2 tsp

Fennel seeds- ½ tsp

Poppy seeds-1 tsp

Cashews-4 (optional)

Kal Paasi/Stone flower-1 tsp

How It Happened:

1. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan, add all the ingredients given under the ‘to roast and grind’ list one by one and fry well. Switch off the flame, cool it and grind it to a smooth paste with little water and set aside.

2. Wash the soya chunks thrice and set aside. Wash and chop the vegetables and set aside.

3. Heat remaining oil in a deep pan, add the curry leaves and when they splutter add the onions and mint leaves and cook until they get wilted.

4. Then add the vegetables and soaked soya chunks along with 3 cups of water and mix well.

5. Let it cook in medium flame for 15-20 minutes or until it bubbles well and the veggies are cooked soft. Keep stirring so that the gravy doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

6. When the gravy has thickened and bubbled well, switch off the flame, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with parotta.

Notes:

* This tastes exactly like the ones you get from those little shops. But if you don’t like the flavor of any specific spice you can skip it.

* I did not soak the soya chunks in boiling water as they are going to be cooked in gravy for long enough to become soft. But make sure you wash well.

* The gravy is supposed to a little thin/watery than the regular gravies or masalas. So adjust water accordingly.