Indian style Sub-jee (or Subji) curry is a super flavorful way to get lots of vegetables into a quick weeknight meal. While it makes for an easy vegetarian meal on it own scooped with naan, serving it wrapped in a tortilla with cheese is like a great melding of two cultures. Adaptable and so tasty, this recipe will become a go-to for your Meatless Monday meals.
This recipe for an Indian style vegetable curry called sub-jee (also spelled subji) is one of my favorite things to eat because the flavors are so good, it's easy and quick to make, and the wrap makes a great one-dish dinner. My kids, however, probably wish this was not the case since it has no meat (ah, my sweet carnivores) and is mostly vegetables - especially the dreaded "c" vegetable.
A few things right up front about this recipe:
- From the ingredients, it may not seem that great, but trust me, it tastes much better than it looks as it's coming together.
- My original recipe, heavily modified, is an old yellowed copy from a newspaper, from about 20 years ago simply titled 'Sub-jee.' I've since learned that probably an Americanized spelling of Indian 'Subji' which I've now added to the description, but I've kept my title, since I do wrap it in tortillas with cheese - hardly authentic Indian!
- However, you don't have to wrap them in tortillas with cheese (though it's really very good). You can go more authentic and serve it in a bowl with naan. Or even wrap it in naan. But then maybe you'd need to spell it 'subji.'
Okay, back to the sub-jee recipe. The two main ingredients are potatoes and cauliflower. Even though cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables (I actually craved it when I was pregnant with my daughter...), but maybe not one of yours, I would challenge you to try this. The vegetables break down with the spices into a whole new taste sensation (for lack of a better term - stay with me here!).
The great thing about this dish is that other than the potatoes and cauliflower, you can use whatever vegetables you have that need to be used up. Over the years I've put just about every vegetable in the pot and it always tastes good.
TIP: If you are low-carb, use sweet potatoes in place of regular potatoes and eat with a low carb tortilla or bread option.
Also, it is an inexpensive meal that uses up whatever you have on hand - I love these kind of recipes! It comes in at around $5.00 for the meal, depending on what kind of a deal you find on tortillas, cauliflower and cheese.
And we always have enough leftovers for a couple of lunches the next day - in fact I think it's better the next day as the flavors develop even more.
Indian Sub-jee Curry Wraps
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients I used this time (the carrots, sweet peppers, and celery are what you could substitute with other vegetables):
- potatoes
- cauliflower
- carrots
- sweet peppers
- celery
- onion
- garlic
- jalapeños
- spices
Not shown is the chicken broth (note: use vegetable broth for vegetarian). Remember, you can make your own broth as described here.
For serving wrap-style, you'll also need these items:
- Tortillas (I like whole wheat)
- Monterey Jack cheese (I've tried others, and for some reason, this dish really works best with Jack, in my opinion)
- Sour Cream or Yogurt
- Chopped Tomatoes
TIP: I've been known to use a jar of Canned Bruschetta Tomato Topping instead of fresh tomatoes when trying to eat in season. This tomato topping surprised me with how firm they turned out with REALLY great flavor, which is a treat in the dead of winter.
Oh man, this is a super easy recipe, too, taking about 10-15 minutes to chop the vegetables and 20 minutes to cook! It's one of the reasons it makes a great weeknight meal.
The one key is to chop up all the vegetables in uniform sizes so that they all cook equally. Once that is done, you add the spices and the broth and set the pan to boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until everything is tender. When done, it will look like the photo above with all the ingredients melding together into one dish - sub-jee.
Again, pictures can't do this dish justice - you just have to take my word for it and try it.
To serve, spoon it on a tortilla and sprinkle with cheese, chopped tomatoes and a few dollops of sour cream or yogurt. Roll up as you would a burrito and bite into all that yumminess.
It's your call if you want to use a knife and fork or make this a just-use-your-hands dish. Personally, I always use utensils to get every bit of that wonderful curry.
We're split in our family, though sometimes it turns out juicier than other times (depending on the vegetables you use - some might release more juices than others) and we all end up using forks.
However you eat this, I hope you do give it a try!
Vegetarian Indian Sub-jee Curry Wraps
Ingredients
- 1/2 head of cauliflower cut into uniform pieces not florets - just chop it up
- 2 large potatoes any kind, peeled and chopped
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 cups total of any of the following vegetables chopped: celery, carrots, sweet peppers, leeks, chard, kale, mushrooms, zucchini.
- 1/2 to 1 whole jalapeño depending on heat tolerance finely minced (pickled work, too, or about 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper)
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander optional
- dash ground cinnamon
- 1 cup vegetable broth or chicken
For Serving Wrap Style:*
- 8 flour tortillas
- 1½ cups Monterey Jack cheese shredded
- 2 tomatoes diced
- 1/2 to 1 cup sour cream or yogurt
Instructions
- In a large heavy pot, stir together all the ingredients except the ingredients for serving.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
- Heat the tortillas in foil in the oven or wrapped in a dish towel in the microwave.
- To serve, sprinkle some cheese on a warm tortilla, spoon some of the vegetable mixture down the center of the tortilla, top with some chopped tomatoes and a dollop of sour cream and roll up like a burrito.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe has been updated - it was originally published in April of 2009.
Other Easy Meatless Meals to Try:
Quick Real Food Creamy Pesto Pasta
Asparagus Quiche (with easy press-in-pan crust)
Amazingly Delicious Cauliflower Cheese Soup
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