Subzi (Side Dishes For Indian Meals)

Every Indian meal has a sabzi. The dal and rice or roti anchor the plate, and the sabzi is what gives it character. The dry aloo gobi, the bhindi tossed in spices, the cabbage sukka with its sharp tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves.

This collection covers the full range, from the simplest batata bhaji to the Mangalorean ajadina dishes that rarely make it to restaurant menus. Pair them with a curry or a dal, and roti or rice, and you have a complete meal.

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Potato dishes

The most versatile sabzi ingredient in Indian cooking. Every region has its potato dish.

Okra dishes

Bhindi masala, bhindi do pyaza, air fryer bhindi masala. Okra cooked three ways. Bhindi masala is dry and spiced. Bhindi do pyaza has twice the onions. The air fryer version is the fastest and the crispiest.

Paneer dishes

Kadai paneer, matar paneer, methi malai matar paneer. Paneer dishes that sit on the boundary between sabzi and curry.

Other vegetable dishes

Mangalorean ajadina and sukka dishes

The dry dishes of the Tulu Nadu coast, cooked with freshly grated coconut and tempered with coconut oil and curry leaves

MEAL COMBINATIONS

Build a meal around sabzi

North Indian lunch

Aloo gobi with roti and dal tadka

South Indian weekday

Cabbage poriyal with rasam and plain rice

Mangalorean table

Kori ajadina with kori gassi and rutti (crispy, dry sheets made from boiled rice)

Quick weeknight

Batata bhaji with chapati and mung dal

Coastal Karnataka

Yeti ajadina with ganji and dried fish chutney

FREQUENTLY ASKED

Questions about Indian sabzis

What is the difference between a sabzi and a curry?

A sabzi is a dry or semi-dry side dish where the vegetable or protein is cooked with spices but very little liquid. A curry has a sauce or gravy base. Aloo gobi is a sabzi. Aloo in a tomato-onion gravy is a curry. The same main ingredient, completely different technique and texture.

What is ajadina?

Ajadina is the Tulu word for a dry dish made with freshly grated coconut, whole spices, and a tempering of coconut oil and curry leaves. It is specific to the Tulu Nadu coastal belt of Karnataka - the Mangalorean tradition. Kori ajadina uses chicken. Yeti ajadina uses shrimp. Bareda kai ajadina uses raw plantain. The technique is the same across all of them. The coconut is what makes it distinctly coastal.

What is the difference between sukka, ajadina, palya, and poriyal?

All four are dry vegetable or protein dishes, but they come from different regional traditions. Sukka is the Konkani/Mangalorean term. Ajadina is the Tulu term for the same style of cooking. Palya is the Kannada term for a dry vegetable stir-fry. Poriyal is the Tamil equivalent. The technique overlaps: dry-cooked with coconut and spices, tempered with mustard seeds and curry leaves, but the spice profiles and coconut ratios differ between traditions.

Can sabzis be made in advance?

Most dry sabzis keep well in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Potato-based sabzis like aloo gobi and batata bhaji reheat well in a pan with a splash of water. Coconut-based dishes like ajadina and sukka are best eaten fresh as the coconut loses its texture after refrigeration. Paneer dishes reheat well, but the paneer firms up slightly on reheating.

About this collection

If you are a fan of the movie Ratatouille, you will know exactly what I am talking about.

There is a particular scene where the food critic Anton Ego eats ratatouille in the restaurant. After the first bite, he is instantly transported back to his childhood, to the moment he comes home to his mother cooking his favourite food. The memories that flood back for Anton are exactly like the ones I have whenever I eat kori ajadina.

Every time I eat this dish, my mind goes back to the times my mother made it when we had guests over. As the chicken cooked, the whole house filled with the most joyous aromas. It was a test of patience. I would pop into the kitchen every few minutes and ask 'is it done?' I am sure I drove her crazy. She would always say, 'I will call you the minute it is done.' And she would.

The joy when she called out was hard to explain. She would hand me a small steel bowl with a few pieces of chicken ajadina. I was always the first to taste it, to give my seal of approval. Even as a kid, I knew what a good kori ajadina tasted like.

That is what a sabzi can do. Not always, but sometimes the right dish, made the right way, carries you somewhere else entirely.

KEEP EXPLORING

A complete Indian meal is rice or roti, a dal or a curry, and a sabzi. That combination of something starchy, something saucy, something dry is how most Indian home meals are built. The sabzis in this collection are the dry component. They belong with dal and legumes or curries on one side and rice or roti on the other. Start there, and the meal builds itself.