Zucchini besan sabji, a dry vegetable Indian recipe with zucchini and besan or gram flour.
Confession: for the longest time, I thought zucchini was another type of cucumber that's only used in raita and salads. I didn't even know the Indian name for zucchini having never seen this vegetable in Kerala or even Hyderabad.
It seems zucchini is actually a fruit, not a vegetable, and is closely related to ridge gourd, a popular vegetable in India.
Anyway, I wanted try an Indian recipe with Zucchini and went with the easiest option - a quick and simple sabji with besan. Also check out Indian potato fry (no onion, no garlic), yam fry, and sesame tofu recipe.
This is a no-onion no-garlic, Jain friendly recipe.
Zucchini Besan Sabji
Ingredients
- 2 zucchini peeled, washed and cut into small cubes (about 3 cups)
- 3 tablespoon of besan / Bengal gram flour
- 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder
- ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
- ⅛ teaspoon of hing / asafoetida
- 1 teaspoon of rice flour optional
- Salt to taste
- 1-2 tablespoon of oil
- 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds / jeera
- ¼ teaspoon of mustard seeds
- A few curry leaves
Instructions
- Add the besan, salt, chilli powder, turmeric, rice flour (if using), and hing to the cubed zucchini.
- Mix well with fingertips until the zucchini pieces are well coated in the mixture. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and cumin.
- When the mustard pops and the cumin sizzles, add the curry leaves and the zucchini mixture.
- Mix well until the zucchini pieces are coated in oil.
- Cook on low flame, stirring occasionally, until the pieces are cooked soft. Add salt.
- If you don't peel the zucchini, the pieces will hold their shape and will be firmer, so it's up to you how you want it to turn out.
- Serve hot.
Serve zucchini beasan sabji hot with steamed rice or chapatis.
Do you have any favourite Indian zucchini recipes? Do share in the comment box below!
For zucchini besan sabji recipe in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Urdu etc please use the Google translate button in the sidebar.
Sarthak Gupta
Thank you mam bahut hi acchi lagi recipe Thanks much for sharing this 🙂
Julie
A quick question. I plan on making this tonight. the 1 tspn of chile powder - is that what I know as an american as chile powder or should it be crushed red chiles? Thank you in advance! I look forward to trying it after reading all the greta reviews.
nags
Crushed red chillies are a good substitute for Indian chilli powder 🙂
Malini
Thank you.sabji came out well
Lakshmi
Awesome recipe! Tried this with zucchini earlier and with broccoli today. It turned out great both times. Thanks much for sharing this 🙂
Nagalakshmi V
lovely idea to try this with broccoli. I have tried the same with capsicum, actually. that turns out really nice too 🙂