Name: Mixed Vegetables with a Peppery Lentil Sauce (Khatkhatem)
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 1½ teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; 1 teaspoon tamarind paste or concentrate; 1 small Japanese eggplant (about 6 inches long and 1 inch in diameter), stem removed, cut in half lengthwise, and then cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces; 1 medium-size white potato, such as russet or Yukon Gold, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes, and submerged in a bowl of cold water to prevent browning; ¼ cup oily or unoily skinned split yellow pigeon peas (toovar dal), picked over for stones; 6 to 8 dried red Thai or cayenne chiles, to taste, stems removed; ½ cup shredded fresh coconut; or ¼ cup shredded dried unsweetened coconut, reconstituted (see Note); 1 teaspoon ground turmeric; ½ cup cubed unripe green papaya (1-inch cubes; see Tip); 8 to 10 teflam seeds (see box); ½ cup canned raw jackfruit, drained and rinsed, cut into 1-inch pieces (see box); 5 to 8 pieces frozen “drumsticks”, each 3 to 4 inches long (see box; no need to thaw); 1 cup cut-up fresh green beans (1-inch pieces); 1 medium-size carrot, peeled and sliced crosswise into 1-inch pieces; ½ cup cubed fresh red pumpkin (1-inch pieces; see Tip)

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

A mixture of vegetables translates to khatkhatem and is Hindu Goa’s signature dish, kin to the southern Indian Aviyal (see recipe), but is unknown to most non-Goans. (Nivedita Dempo, who married my dear friend Polu and is the daughter of a well-known industrialist from Goa, screamed with glee, “Arre, how do you know about khatkhatem?” when I mentioned that I had just made this curry after a recent trip to her homeland.) Its unique flavor derives from the spice ca