Korma is royal dish which does take some effort in terms of collecting and preparing vegetables, soaking and grinding the nut pastes, hand pounding the spice powder etc but on occasions like Holi or Diwali I like to delve into that territory of tedious cooking and relive the memories of times when my grandmother and mother spent long hours in the kitchen come any festival. As a little girl, I used to spend the entire day watching them, tasting and learning the intricacies of indian cooking. Navratan translates to" nine jewels" and the mughlai dish is said to be named after the nine courtiers of mughal emperor Akhbar. The recipe of the sauce base changes ingredients slightly depending on which part of india it is being prepared in but essentially the base is made with yogurt, cream, nuts and seeds paste(north india),whole spices or a coconut base (south india). Last but most important, using ghee as a cooking fat gives it that a luxurious authentic taste. A few things about how I make Navratan Korma :-
I use a lot of colorful vegetables - 6 to 7 kinds when I make this dish. Prepare the vegetables according to how long it takes to cook them since they finish cooking in the sauce and we don’t want few of them to be mushy. I add nuts like cashews and almonds both in the sauce base as well in the curry. Also fruits like pineapple chunks and pomegranate arils give the sauce a nice fruity burst here and there when you eat. Nuts and fruits are totally optional though. Use fresh nuts and seeds to make the nut paste for the sauce, it makes a lot of difference in taste. There are few steps to the recipe however, you divide the work in between a couple of days. Like I make the nut paste, prepare the vegetables and slice the onions etc a day ahead to make cooking easy. Please avoid using pressure cooker for making this dish, it is one of those dishes where slow cooked sauce gives absolutely delicious results.
