Mixed Vegetable Poriyal

My mom would often make this poriyal and I find this to be substantial and interesting because of the mix of vegetables and the mung dhal. She used to steam them along with the idlis and use up one of the plates to save some time. Amma is an amazingly fast cook and can manage to whip up breakfast, rice, sambhar/kuzhambu, rasam and 2 veggies, pack everyone's lunchboxes and amidst all this go downstairs to buy veggies/greens from the vendors, help us with our requests to find certain clothes/books and quite a few other chores all in about an hour or max. 1 hr 15 minutes & then get ready to leave to work herself. I have no idea how she does this and that too with absolutely no preparation the previous night except for those occassions when vazhathandu or vazhaipoo are involved in which case they involve some prep work the night before. My dad sometimes steps in to lend a hand when it's a crazy day but for most part she can handle it all and has quite a few tricks up her sleeve to save time and multitask. I, however, operate differently and need a plan for everything before hand and am nowhere close to how fast she is.

Anyway coming back to the recipe... This is a simple poriyal/thoran depending on whether i simple add grated coconut towards the end or grind it with some g. chillies or cumin and stir it in but very tasty & wholesome.

MIXED VEGETABLE PORIYAL


Ingredients:
Carrot - 1 or 2, cut into small cubes
Beans - 15 to 20, chopped into small pieces
Cabbage - a small chunk chopped (I didn't add this time since I didn't have it)
Mung dhal (yellow split) - 3 tbsp, soaked in water for a while
Salt - to taste

To Grind:
Coconut - 2 tbsp
G. chillies - 4 to 5
Cumin seeds - half tsp

Seasoning:
Mustard seeds - half tsp
Urad dhal - half tsp
Red Chilli - 1
Curry leaves - few
Asafoetida - a pinch
Oil - 1 to 2 tsp

Method:
1) Mix all the veggies and mung dhal in a bowl, sprinkle some salt and a couple tbsp of water. Microwave on high for about 7 minutes or so till done.

2) Heat oil in a pan and season with mustard, urad dhal, red chilli, curry leaves & asafoetida. Add in the veggies and saute for a few minutes.. till all the water (if any) evaporates.

3) Stir in the ground coconut-chilli-cumin paste and cook for a few more minutes before switching off the stove. Alternately, you can skip the grinding part and just increase the number of red chillies while seasoning and sprinkle in grated coconut towards the end. Both methods yield tasty results and is just a matter of preference.