Spicy Navaratan Kurma/Vegetable Kurma

Being into cooking intensely from last few months, I came across many a times a question which people tend to ask with a cook for sure. Though I love trying many new recipes and at times I do feel like laughing when some one asks me ''your signature dish?'' My list goes endless or I remain dumbstruck.!If you ask for I can proudly say yes, this is very well a signature dish of mine. After moving to Germany my venture in cooking started with this dish preparation I can say which I actually learnt from Vah re Vah chef, but Mr. S who doesn't like the sweet version of this curry had to bear with me whenever I used to prepare this curry for rotis or rice. Hence I slowly started to tweak the recipe by changing initially few ingredients and now many I could say, hence developed a new recipe which perfectly suits mine and husband's taste well.

Ingredients:
Precooked Assorted Vegetables ( Carrots, Green beans, Cauliflower were my choice)
Onion-2 chopped-1 cup
Tender green peas-1/2 cup
Almonds-15
Cumin seeds-1 tsp
Bay leaves-1
Cinnamon stick/Dalchini-1'' piece
Ginger garlic paste-1/2 tsp
Coriander powder-2 tsp
Green chillies-2
Bell pepper/Paprika -1/2 cup chopped
Garam masala-1 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder-1/2 tsp
Kasuri methi/Dried fenugreek leaves-1 tsp
Oil-2 tbsp.
Milk-1/2 cup
Water-1/2 cup+2 tbsp.
Vegetable stock-1 1/2 cup*
Corn flour-2 tbsp.
Salt to taste

Recipe:

1. Soak almonds in warm water for 1-2 hours
2. Peel the almonds and add them along with 1/2 cup onions to a pan and add 1/2 cup water.
3. Cook for 5 mins till onions turn translucent.
4. Cool them down and grind into a smooth paste.
5. In a pan, add oil and when hot add bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cumin seeds, as they splatter add 1/2 cup onions, ginger garlic paste, green chillies and sauté for a while.
6. When onions turn translucent add the ground paste to it and sauté for a while till the paste gets cooked well and oozes out oil a little.
7. Now add turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder and mix well.
8. Next add bell pepper/paprika into the pan and sauté along.
9. Add 1 cup vegetable stock* or normal water to the mixture and cook
10. Get ready with cooked vegetables. All you need to do is add the diced veggies say beans and carrots to a pan, add enough water, salt to taste and cook till they are half cooked. Then add cauliflower florets and cook along with half cooked carrots and beans and once fully cooked drain them and keep aside.
11. Add the cooked veggies, tender green peas to the mixture in step 9 and cook along further for another 2 minutes
12. Add 1/2 cup vegetable stock further if required.
13. Add garam masala and mix well. Add salt to taste.
14. Add milk at this stage.
15. Now make a mixture of corn flour and 2 tbsp. water and add that mixture to the kurma to get desired consistency which is almost ready.
16. Now add kasuri methi on top and serve hot with Indian flat breads and even with plain rice.

 

 

 

Note:

1. Add cream for richer look and taste.
2. Make use of paneer if you wish to. Add paneer when you add the cooked veggies.
3. Instead of almonds, cashews could be used, I used almonds here as Mr S doesn't like the sweetness that gets added due to addition of cashew paste. So I opted for almonds.
4. The vegetable stock* I referred above is the water with which I cooked the vegetables, all I did is after I drained the veggies I collected the water that was removed while draining for making gravy for the kurma.

 Enjoy the dish! n don't forget Eat and Eat little MORE.. :) 

 

Sending this to my own Guest host event VFAM – onions, Priyas Page