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.
   
   
   
   

Raita

Raita is a side dish made with vegetables and yogurt or sour cream that is served with poori ( fried flatbread), chapathi ( flatbread ) or with biryani ( spicy vegetable rice). It helps cool down the palate when eating dishes that may be spicy.

Raita is one of my favorite dishes. I typically like to use cucumber in my raita. Onion is commonly used in Indian restaurants. Sometimes carrots are used. I have also seen raita with pineapple, crunchy boondi etc. in this version I have used onion , carrot , and cucumber.

Ingredients

Red onion - 1/2 chopped into strips or cubes (add salt to the onions and mix well and let it sit . It sweats it a little and you can squeeze the extra moisture out of it)

Carrot - 1/2 shredded 

Cucumber - 1 small cubed

Sour cream/ plain yogurt - 1 cup

Cumin powder - 1 tsp 

Chaat masala - 1 tsp

Cilantro leaves - a few chopped

Mint leaves- a few chopped

Salt - to taste 

Instructions 

1. In a large mixing bowl place all of the ingredients and mix together really well. 

2. This makes for a thick mixture 

3. Add water to thin this out so that it is at a sauce consistency to serve 

4. Serve with biryani , poori , chapathi , 

parotta