In all these years of food blogging, I have missed sharing a few basic recipes. Like I have not taken pictures of Vegetable Kurma, because in my mind it is a very basic dish I grew up eating. I have an old recipe of it without any pictures and honestly, a recipe without pictures is of no use to anyone. So I decided to make note of the recipe here, for the sake of posterity. When I made Brinji Saadam, I had also chopped vegetables which I didn’t use in the rice, so I made a simple Vegetable Kurma using them. So today’s recipe is yet another childhood favorite, that featured more alongside Amma’s crispy dosai than chapati at our home. Amma is the only person in the family who used onions and garlic frequently in her cooking, making biriyanis and kurmas 🙂 Atleast once a week, she made mixed vegetable kurma and every Sundays, we had vegetable biriyani.
This recipe of Vegetable Kurma is really simple. Kurma is basically a Tamil style curry made with a fresh ground paste of coconut and green chillies. To make it creamy and rich, other ingredients like cashews, poppy seeds or even roasted gram is added. Sometimes, I also add a few mint and coriander leaves for additional flavor. This masala paste forms the base of the gravy, giving the body and richness to the gravy. You can make Kurma out of any vegetable – I have already posted Green Peas Kurma, Double Beans Kurma, Beetroot Kurma, Egg Kurma, Kurma Kuzhambu and the Hotel Style Vellai Kurma. Vegetable Kurma with mixed veggies is the most commonly made and is served as a side dish in every restaurant.
Vegetable Kurma goes really well with any South Indian breakfast starting with crispy dosai or idliyappam or appam. It can be quickly made for lunch or dinner as a side dish for chapati or roti. At times, I also make it as a side dish for pulao/kuska. It is creamy, rich and delicious – can be made in a pressure cooker too. In this recipe however, I have pre-boiled chopped vegetables to cut short the cooking time. I don’t like to have the vegetables mushy, so I cooked them just until tender while the onion tomatoes and masala was getting ready. It has a lovely color, with the addition of turmeric powder and red chilli powder. With the addition of cashews and poppy seeds, it gets naturally creamy. The key to getting the perfect kurma is to avoid cooking it for long after the first boil. Check out the recipe for more details 🙂
📖 Recipe
Boil the chopped vegetables in an open pot for 10-12 mins or in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle and set them aside. Don’t throw off the water.
Add all the ingredients under Masala Paste into blender jar. Grind it without adding any water first.
Now add ¼ cup of water and grind it into a smooth paste. Set it aside.
In a pan, heat oil. Add cloves, cardamom, dried bay leaf and cinnamon.
Next add finely chopped onions and fry until translucent.
Add ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell is gone.
Next add finely chopped tomatoes and cook them until mushy.
Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and cook for 2-3 mins on low flame.
Now add the boiled vegetables along with the water (and boiled soya chunks if using), add salt as needed. Cook for a couple of minutes.
Next add the prepared masala paste and cook for on low flame until it is comes to a slow boil. Adjust the water as needed.
Finally add finely chopped coriander leaves and remove from heat.
Serve hot with idiyappam, dosa or chapati.
Note –
Adjust the number of green chillies per spice preference. Don’t cook/boil the kurma for long after adding coconut. If it comes to a boil, it is time to take it off heat else the coconut will taste grainy.
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