Veg Chilli milli

Yesterday was a super jackpot day for me. My mil was making one of our favourites – Veg Chilli Milli. The name sounds weird doesn’t it? Honestly, no clue about why it has this name. This was a dish D & I had tasted in a restaurant nearby called ‘Urban Tadka’. We liked it so much and wanted my in-laws to try it out as well. They liked it a lot too and MIL decided to try and recreate it. Of course, she tried this dish a few times before perfecting it to our taste buds and since then this chilli milli has never looked back :). It’s now a family recipe. So, I had to document it sometime or the other. Another honest confession – I don’t anymore remember how the urban tadka chilli milli dish tastes like. Now, this is the taste I get to my mind every time I think of it :). Anyways, back to base story – my mil was going to make chilli milli in the evening which meant I could take pictures to document the whole process. She wasn’t thrilled a bit when I told her I wanna blog this recipe this time :). Poor her – can’t blame her. She forgets to call me in between steps or thinks certain steps don’t require photos (problem with these utterly skilled moms who think of some steps as too simple and menial to be documented). So basically, it’s just added tension for her when I wanna document some dish of hers :). I just cajole her by saying all these recipes will be used by me later on to appease her son and her grand son (saying this kind of always does the trick :)). This is also the first time I saw her make this dish. I somehow always thought there are multiple layers to this dish and that it’s a complicated dish. I was totally wrong with this assumption. The only tricky bit of this dish was cutting veggies. I may have mentioned this earlier – our house eats a lot of (a lot of) veggies. With my mom inclusive, we are 5 people in the house at the moment but the dish could have easily served 8-10 people in general. ‘In general’ is something that isn’t general in our household :). So this ‘in general’ 8-10 serving quantity was consumed by just the 5 of us in the house :). It was a spicy dish and hence, Adya didn’t have it. The dish uses cashews & fresh cream but honestly if one were to make this for 2-4 people, you’d have to use 4-5 cashews & 1.5 tsp of fresh cream. That’s not a lot for a special dish such as CHILLI MILLI!!! Try it on people and let me know. This is definitely one of my favourites.

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Veg Chilli Milli

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

25 mins

 

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Servings: 8 people

Ingredients

• 4 big onions
• 4 no capsicums we used 1 of each color
• 1 no carrot
• 3 cups cabbage
• 2 cups crumbled paneer
• 4-5 no green chillies
• 6 pods garlic
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 tbsp refined oil
• 3 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tbsp garam masala powder
• 2 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves
• a handful fresh coriander leaves
• 3 tbsp fresh cream
• 20 nos cashew nuts

For topping/ garnishing

• 6 no green chillies
• 1 tsp refined oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 nos pepper pappads

Instructions

1. Soak the cashew nuts in hot water (for 30 minutes), cut all the veggies thin and long.

2. Grind the cashew nuts in 1/4 cup water to form a smooth puree and set it aside. 

3. In a large pan/ kadai, heat some oil & add the cumin seeds.

4. Once they start to splutter, throw in the slit green chillies & garlic. Saute till they start to brown.

5. Throw in the onions at this stage and saute till they start to brown.

6. Add the tomato puree & saute for a minute.

7. Add the dry spices (coriander powdre & garam masala powder) and saute for 2-3 minutes. 

8. Throw in the cashew puree at this stage & let the mixture cook for 2 minutes. 

9. Throw in all the veggies at this stage, add some water & salt.

10. Let the mixture cook. Cover the pan with a lid. 

11. The veggies must be cooked but still a bit crunchy (would take around 10-12 minutes to get to this).

12. Add the crumbled paneer at this stage and mix well. 

13. Add the fresh cream and mix well. Add a bit of water if needed.

14. Finally, add fresh coriander leaves & kasoori methi (crush with your palms) and turn off the heat. 

15. Before serving, top the chilli milli with sauteed green chillies & roasted pappad. 

16. Serve them on the side of hot hot rotis/ parathas. Zimbly irresistible!

Method to make the topping/ garnishing

1. Slit the green chillies & saute them in oil with a bit of salt. 

2. Microwave/ flame roast the pepper pappads. Crush them before using :).

Stepwise pictures

Soak cashew nuts in hot water for 30 minutes.

Grind it to a smooth paste/ puree by adding 1/4 cup water. Set it aside.

Chop the veggies long and thin. This was the part that consumed the max time for us since these many veggies are to be consumed by 8 people :).

In a large pan, heat some oil & add cumin seeds.

Once the cumin seeds start to splutter, throw in the green chillies & garlic. Saute till they start to brown.

Throw in the onion and saute for a few minutes.

Let the onions brown and let them release their natural flavours.

Add the tomato puree at this stage and saute for a minute. Add the dry spices – coriander powder & garam masala powder at this stage.

Once the dry spices and tomato puree are cooked for a bit (a few minutes), pour in the cashew puree.

Let the whole mixture cook for 2 minutes.

Throw in all the veggies & adequate salt & mix well.

Close the pan with a lid and allow it to cook.

The veggies must be cooked but not mushy. must be a bit crunchy. takes about 10-12 minutes to get to this. At this stage add the crumbled paneer and mix well.

Check and adjust for salt at this stage.

Finally, add the fresh coriander leaves & dried fenugreek leaves/ kasoori methi (crush these with your palm before adding them) and turn off the heat.

Right before serving the chilli milli, top it up roasted pappads & sauteed green chillies. Divine I tell ya!