Paneer Vegetable Jalfrezi is a stir fry style Indian curry made with medley of vegetables and paneer in a thick, spicy and tangy sauce. Its pairs well with Indian flat breads like Naan or roti or chapati and even rice.
For today's post I am sharing one of my favorite curry recipes, Paneer Vegetable Jalfrezi which is an Indian side dish (sabji or dry curry).
When I first traveled to the UK for work assignment, I experimented with lot of new recipes over the weekends. Jalfrezi was pretty popular dish in the UK and most Indian restaurants had it on their menu.
I tried recreating paneer baby corn jalfrezi (named it this back then) for a potluck party and it was an instant hit with my friends. Ever since I've have been making this jalfrezi recipe.
Over the years I have slightly tweaked the recipe to suit my family and my taste buds. Its such an exotic and colorful dish making it perfect to be on party menu. Infact this was one of the side dishes for Rhea's birthday party. So had to share it with you all.
What is Vegetable Jalfrezi
Jalfrezi actually means "stir fry" or "hot fry" and it originated as a way to use leftovers by stir frying meat, veggies and or paneer in chilli, onions and tomatoes. But over the years Jalfrezi has gained immense popularity and is no longer just a dish to use leftovers but instead a delicacy. You will find many restaurants having variety of jalfrezi dishes on their menu.
Few popular varieties are Chicken Jalfrezi, paneer jalfrezi or you can skip any meat or protein and simply make a mix veg jalfrezi. All are truly delicious!!
The jalfrezi curry is usually on the thicker sauce side of consistency and is spicy, tangy in flavor. Making this at home gives you the flexibility to adjust the heat (spice) to your liking. It pairs beautifully with Indian flatbreads and even rice.
Veg Jalfrezi Ingredients
Onions, tomatoes and bell peppers are commonly sighted ingredients in most jalfrezi recipes. Along with these I prefer to add baby corn (fresh or canned) to my vegetable jalfrezi recipe as I really like the flavor it adds. In addition you could also add other veggies like green peas, green beans, carrots and even mushrooms to this.
My choice of protein for this recipe is paneer as you can tell from the name of this recipe 😊 But you can replace it with chicken (meat) or tofu or simply skip protein and keep it just veggies.
Vegan Jalfrezi
To make this veg jalfrezi vegan, simply replace paneer with Tofu and there you have your vegan jalfrezi recipe.
How to make Vegetable Paneer Jalfrezi
Traditionally jalfrezi uses the stir-frying technique for cooking the ingredients but I've tried making this in my Instant Pot and the results were delicious so sharing both methods below:
Step by Step Method using stovetop:
Heat oil in a vessel and once hot add the cumin seeds and asafoetida. Once the cumin seeds start to splutter add ginger garlic and saute for a minute and then add the onions and saute for 2-3 mins on medium heat. Now add the bell peppers and salt and mix well. Cover and cook until the bell pepper is ¾ cooked.
Now add the tomato paste & masala powders - turmeric, red chilli, cumin seeds and coriander. Mix well. Cook for about a min and then add the baby corn. Cover and cook until baby corn is done (approximately 5 mins). Then add the ketchup & paneer and toss gentle so that the paneer gets coated evenly. Cover and cook for about a min. Finally add the lemon juice and coriander leaves and mix well.
Step by Step Method using Instant Pot:
Start Instant Pot on saute mode and add oil to it. Once the oil hot add the cumin seeds and asafoetida (hing). After the cumin seeds start to splutter add ginger garlic and saute for a few seconds until fragrant. Stir in the onions and saute for a min or two and add rest of the veggies like bell peppers, baby corn (or any other veggies).
Stir in the tomato paste, tomato ketchup & masala powders : turmeric, red chilli, cumin seeds, coriander and salt and mix until combined. Add the paneer and half cup of water and toss gently so that the paneer gets lightly coated. Close the instant pot lid with vent to sealing and cook on manual high for 3 mins followed by quick release.
When you open the lid you will notice liquid (released by the veggies). Start the Instant pot back on saute mode and add the lemon juice and mix lightly (trying not to break the paneer).
If you prefer it absolutely dry then cook until the liquid dries. If you prefer to have some gravy, saute for couple of mins and switch off the pot. Finish off with some cilantro (coriander)leaves.
Our exotic yet easy and delectable Paneer Vegetable Jalfrezi is ready!
Serve it hot as a side with rice or Indian flatbread Naan/Roti/Chapati. Alternately you can also use this as filling inside your wrap. Smear some green chutney, this sabji and sprinkle red onion and roll and enjoy!!
More Paneer curry recipes
Hope you enjoy this Paneer Vegetable Jalfrezi as much as we do!! If you give this recipe a try, we did love to hear from you ❤️ Please let us know your rating ⭐️and feedback in the comments below. Thank you!
Paneer Vegetable Jalfrezi
Equipment
- Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 1-2 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds zeera
- ¼ teaspoon asafoetida hing
- ½ tablespoon ginger grated or minced
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 red onion sliced
- 1 ½ tablespoon tomato paste or 2 tomato pureed
- 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
- 320 gms paneer fresh or frozen, cut into strips lengthwise
- 10-12 baby corns cut in half lengthwise or use 15oz can of whole baby corn
- 2 bell peppers cut in julienne, used ½ each pepper (red, green, yellow and orange)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or to taste
- 2-3 tablespoon coriander leaves finely chopped
Spices:
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon kashmiri red chilli powder adjust to taste
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds powder
- ½ tablespoon coriander powder
- salt to taste
Instructions
Using stove top:
- Heat oil in a cooking pot or dutch oven and add the cumin seeds and asafoetida. Once the cumin seeds start to splutter add ginger garlic and saute for a minute and then add the onions and saute for 2-3 mins on medium heat.
- Now add the bell peppers and salt and mix well. Cover and cook until the bell pepper is ¾ cooked.
- Stir in the tomato paste & masala powders : turmeric, red chilli, cumin seeds and coriander. Mix well. Cook for about a min and then add the babycorn(canned, if using fresh add it with the bell peppers). Cover and cook until baby corn is done (approximately 5 mins).
- Then add the ketchup & paneer and toss gentle so that the paneer gets coated evenly. Cover and cook for about a min.
- Finally add the lemon juice and cilantro leaves and mix well. Serve warm with Rice/Naan/Roti/Chapati or any Indian flatbread of choice.
Using Instant Pot:
- Start Instant Pot on saute mode and add oil to it. Once the oil hot add the cumin seeds and asafoetida. After the cumin seeds start to splutter add ginger garlic and saute for a few seconds until fragrant.
- Stir in the onions and saute for a min or two and add rest of the veggies like bell peppers, baby corn (or any other veggies).
- Stir in the tomato paste, tomato ketchup & masala powders : turmeric, red chilli, cumin seeds, coriander powder and salt. Mix until combined.
- Add the paneer and half cup of water and toss gentle so that the paneer gets lightly coated.
- Close the instant pot lid with vent to sealing and cook on manual high for 3 mins followed by quick release.
- When you open the lid you will notice liquid (released by the veggies).
- Start the Instant pot back on saute mode and add the lemon juice and mix lightly (trying not to break the paneer).
- If you prefer it absolutely dry then cook until the liquid dries. If you prefer to have some gravy, saute for couple of mins and switch off the pot. Finish off with some cilantro (coriander)leaves. Serve warm with Rice/Naan/Roti/Chapati or any Indian flatbread of choice.
Notes
- Inaddition to baby corn and bell peppers you can also add other veggies of choice like carrots, green beans, green peas, mushrooms etc.
- If you like it spicy you can add green chillies (slit lengthwise or finely chopped) along with onions.
- I have used canned baby corn since fresh were not available to me. Fresh baby corn may take slightly longer to cook so keep checking after every 2 mins (for stove top only). Instant pot method will work fine with the mentioned setting for both fresh and frozen.
- Store bought tomato paste adds rich tomato flavor.
Happy Cooking!!
Shweta
This is delicious. Turned out so well. Thank you!! 😃
Hi Shruthi, Thank you so much!! So glad you liked it!!
wht a colorful n delicious jalfrezie!!
looks so inviting and i am ready to have it with hot rumaali rotti
Breath taking clicks, jalfrezie looks simply out of the world.
delicious looking jalfezi
Sooooooooo tempting