I like words. I like to find out where they came from and what they become in their new setting, in short etymology. I found that Sabzi is derived from Persian word Sabzi to mean "greenness; greens". Now it should not surprise any moderately educated person that most of the nouns that are used in modern Hindi are borrowed from other languages.
Particularly Persian. Once upon a time, an educated man, I mean person, was one who was proficient in Persian. The Mughal emperor Akbar's biography was written in Persian!
Some people, particularly folks that advocate for Hindutva, try to "Indianize" Hindi by purging Hindustani of words derived from impure, foreign, Islamic sources by bringing in words that are derived from Sanskrit.
How would they feel if they found out that ancient Persian and Vedic Sanskrit are similar? Horrors! Vedas shares words with a "mleccha language", ancient Persian!
Let me start with my recipe for a sabzi. Here is a list of ingredients.
- Potatoes
- 5-6 tbsp of cooking oil.
- 1 tsp of mustard seeds.
- 1 tsp of jeera
- 2 tsp of urad dal (I like seeds that are not broken but it makes no difference to taste)
- optional 1 tsp of chana dal
- 0.25 tsp of hing (asafoetida).
- 4-5 curry leaves; more if you like the taste (I do), don't care if you don't 😃.
- 2 Green Chili *
- 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder **
- 2 tsp of salt. ***
- 2 tsp of Sambar Powder. ****
Back again to my recipe. Take 3-4 medium sized potatoes. Wash them thoroughly to remove any dirt or soil. I do not peel the potatoes. Cut them into disks and then into small cubes of uniform size. After I cut them into disks, I use a device to do this. Use a blade depending on the cube size you desire. Keep cut potatoes in cold water; exposed to air it changes color, although it does no harm to the potatoes or impact the taste. Rinse it again to remove any remnant dirt and starch that leaks out.
Recipe
- Pour cooking oil in a flat bottom pan and set it on a medium flame. I prefer non-stick pan.
- Once the oil heats, Add mustard and let it roast (Mustard should explode)
- Add jeera and let it brown. If the mustard has exploded the oil is hot and jeera might char. So be ready for next step.
- Add urad and chana dal. Let them roast till they change to a reddish hue.
- Add Hing, Curry leaves, and Green Chili. Heat till you see incipient signs of charring.
- Add potatoes to the pan.
- Add 2 tsps of salt.
- Add Turmeric Powder.
- Cover pan and let the potatoes cook on a low flame.
- Taste a piece to see if it has cooked.
- Add 2 tsps of Sambar powder
- Without making the potatoes mushy, turn them over so all of them can get to the bottom of the pan and get required heat to acquire crispness
- Do this as many times as necessary to make it uniformly crisp.
- Turn off heat; transfer potatoes to a serving dish. Eat when warm as this dish does not taste as good 2-3 hours later.
- * For spicier taste, add more green chilies.
- ** Turmeric is a acquired taste. I like more of it plus it also gives food a beautiful hue!
- *** Taste to see if you need more salt. Easier to add salt than remove salt from food!
- **** Add more Sambar powder if you like more flavor.