White kurma- easy recipe

This is a white kurma recipe. White kurma just means that there is no tomato added to it. This is an easy recipe since it doesn’t involve using coconut or a lot of spices. This can be made pretty quickly as a side dish to poori, chapathi, or parotta. It is quite tasty even though it is made quickly and doesn’t have as many spices as a traditional kurma.

Ingredients:

To grind into a paste 

Cashews - 10-20

Fennel- 1/2 tbsp

White poppy seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Clove - 1

Cardamom- break open the pod - 1 or 2 ( if using powder 1/2 tsp)

Salt to taste 

1/2 large Onion cut into small pieces 

Garlic - 5 to 6 cloves

Ginger - 1 tsp

Green chilly- 1 deseeded cut into pieces 

Peas and carrots - frozen/ thawed - 1 cup

Cauliflower or potato cooked - 1 cup 

Bay leaf - 1

Paneer optional - 1 cup cubed and roasted until

Golden brown 

Oil - 2 to 3 tbsp 

Water - 1 to 2 cups ( depending on how thin you want the kurma to be)

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Rice flour - 1-2 tbsp

Instructions 

1. Grind all the ingredients listed under ‘grind’. Add some water to ensure it is a thinner paste. 
   
   
   
2. Place a pan on medium heat and add 1-2 tbsp of oil and let it heat up slightly. Roast the onions until translucent , then add the garlic, ginger , green chillies and roast them, then add the bay leaf
   
   
3. Add another tbsp of oil and then add the peas, carrots, cauliflower  to the pan and roast it. Add turmeric to the vegetables and roast it . Then add a cup of water to the pan and let it boil
   
   
   
4. Once the water is boiling add the ground paste to it  and mix it in. Now add the paneer to it.
5. Add salt to taste. Finally add rice flour one tbsp at a time to thicken the kurma  and let it boil for about 5-7 minutes on low heat. 
6. Now kurma is ready to serve as a side with any flatbread or rice.
   
   
   
   

Parotta (layered flatbread)

Parotta  (malabar parotta) is a South Indian layered flatbread. It is slightly different than the paratha found in most Indian restaurants here in the US. Parotta is made from maida ( bleached all purpose flour) as opposed to paratha which is made from whole wheat flour. The way Parotta is folded and rolled out is different than how paratha is made. 

I love the flaky layered buttery goodness that is the parotta. In the US it is difficult to find in restaurants and usually I find it in the frozen section of the Indian store. Until now I have avoided making it since I always thought that this would be difficult to make. But I set out to make it and it was surprising not as difficult as I thought. 

Ingredients:

Maida flour ( bleached all purpose flour)- 1.5 cups

Rava (sooji) - 1 tbsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

Sugar- 1 tsp

Ghee- 2 tbsp

Baking powder- pinch

Water 

Oil - 3 to 4 tbsp 

Instructions

1. In a large bowl add maida, salt, rava, sugar, ghee, baking powder. Add water little at a time ( ~1/3 to 1/2 cup), mix and knead the dough to soften it until a smooth ball of dough is formed.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
2. Cut the large ball of dough and make small golf ball sized balls. Place this in a bowl and add a tbsp of oil on top and let it rest for another hour
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Roll out the balls with a rolling pin into a thin almost transparent flat round disk coating with oil as you go so it doesn’t stick to the rolling pin or the board underneath 
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. This next step can be done two ways 
5. Method 1: lift up the flattened dough lifting up by one edge and then roll it into a spiral like you would if making pinwheels 
   
   
   
   
6. Method 2: cut the flattened dough into thin strips , gather up the strips and then roll into a spiral 
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Now flatted the spiral by hand and then roll it slightly to make a flat round disk yet again ( one with layers now ) 
   
   
8. Place a pan on medium heat and now add a little butter or ghee ( clarified butter) and place the parotta on it and cook until a side is golden brown making sure you flip it back and forth ( like a tortilla) so both sides are cooked. This may take 1-2 minutes total 
   
   
9. Set aside to cool on a plate and then place your hands on either side of it and crush it slightly so the layers come apart and the parotta now has many flaky layers 
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Parotta is now ready to serve with vegetable kurma , ‘ Saravana Bhavan’ hotel style white kurma, or onion raita 
    Adapted from : https://youtu.be/47fRmufjdQ4

Indian Sloppy Joe's

 I use vegetable kurma (vegetable kurma)to make these tasty sandwiches!

Ingredients:

White bread

Mint chutney

Tamarind sauce / ketchup

Vegetable kurma

Ghee/butter

White cheese ( pepper jack/Muenster/havarti)

1. Take two pieces of white bread and spread ghee/ butter on it on the outside.
   
   
   
2. Next spread mint chutney/mint powder and tamarind sauce/ketchup on the inner side of the bread
   
   
   
3. Place cheese on the inside of the bread
   
   
   
4. Place vegetable kurma on top of the cheese
   
   
   
5. Toast the bread on pan until the cheese melts and the outside is golden brown!
   
   
   
   
   
   

This is a tasty way to use the vegetable kurma !

Vegetable kurma (korma)

 I love using whatever vegetables I have around for this korma.

Ingredients

Green beans - frozen ( thawed) or fresh cooked ( steamed )- 1 cup

1-2 cups of paneer cubes fried to golden brown in butter/ ghee ( clarified butter) kept aside - or use precut and fried frozen paneer ( thawed)

Mixed vegetables - I have used the frozen peas and carrots ( from walmart) or if I can't find it I use the mixed vegetable (the one with carrot, peas, Lima beans and corn)- thawed - 1 cup

Optional - cooked potato, cauliflower soft but not mushy

Optional - pineapple - sautéed

1 large onion - chopped

2 cups of tomato purée - can cut up fresh tomatoes and just purée it. If you have tomato paste you can dilute it 1 portion of the paste to 2 Portions of water to get a purée consistency

Soak 1/2 cup of cashews in hot water for about 30 minutes , drain and grind into a fine paste

ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Chili powder - 1 tsp

Homemade masala - 1 tsp (sauté equal parts white poppy seed 2 tbsp and fennel 2 tbsp with tsp of cloves and grind into a fine powder and set aside)- optional since most of this is in the store bought garam masala ( next)

Garam masala - 1 tbsp

coriander powder - 1 tsp - optional

Cardamom - 2 to 3 pods crushed to release the seeds

Cinnamon stick - 1

Bay leaf - 2

Heavy cream/ whole milk / coconut milk - 1/2 cup - you can use choose one of these but do not use all of these

Cashews and golden raisins - sautéed in butter until golden brown and set aside for garnishing

Oil and or butter for sautéing

Salt - 1 to 2 tsp ( to taste )

Directions:

1. Put 2-3 tbsps of oil or butter in a hot pan. Add the chopped onions and sauté until golden brown and translucent
2. Add the ginger garlic paste and sauté it
3. Add the spices - and sauté them - turmeric powder , chili powder, homemade masala , garam masala, coriander powder, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick , bay leaves and roast them ( make sure they don't burn)
4. Add the tomato purée and mix it in well and let it cook until it starts bubbling up . If it gets thick add water for gravy like consistency
5. Add the cashew paste into the the kurma and stir it in
6. Add the fried paneer , cooked/ thawed vegetables to the gravy and let them cook for about 10 minutes on low heat so they can soak in the kurma flavor
7. Add in the roasted cashews and raisins and optional pineapple and stir it in
8. Finally add in the cream ( or substitutes) and mix well , cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes
9. pull out the bay leaves and the cinnamon stick before serving ( these can be choking hazards)
10. Vegetable kurma is ready to serve with chapathi , basmati rice or it can be served in a chapathi or tortillla as a wrap or it can be served on toasted bread as a indian ' sloppy joe '
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. North Indian Navratna korma is prepared similarly but tomato purée is not used and in its place one can use more cream/ milk and perhaps some yogurt for the same tanginess. Also when making the cashew paste, almonds (1/2 cup)and white poppy seed ( 2 tbsp) is also soaked as well and ground up with the cashews into a paste