Vegetable Khurma - South Indian Style

Vegetable Khurma - Royal Dish - South Indian Style

KHURMA - I do not want to go into the history and geography of 'khurma' or 'korma' or whether it is Shahi or Mughal. How many varities of khurma do you see on your daily basis? The person who sells parotta on road side "kaiyendhi bhavan" calls his side dish as khurma. The person who sells tiffin in push cart.. names his side dish for poori as "khurma". In restaurants, they give khurma with idiyappam. They also have seperate item as " vegetable khurma" in the menu for side dish. All are different recipe, but same base - coconut paste and garam masala.

For more sidedish/chutney recipe click  - Sidedish / chutney

The khurma which I make is an influence from my moms recipe. When I was a little girl, I was not a big fan of vegetable khurma. Other members in my family were fond of chicken/mutton khurma which again was not on my favourites list.

Many years back, I never liked the garam masala and ginger-garlic smell. But I am not like that anymore. Now, I gathered interest on these ingredients and I can talk about and use these ingredients and their flavours distinctively in various recipes.

As a result of this change in me, I can see myself gradually liking this khurma concept. Vegetable or meat based khurma.. beautifully braised in the essence of garam masala and ginger-garlic, and finished with soothing coconut paste.

Some people use curd or soaked-almond paste to make it richer. Some use mawa and some use fresh cream! But all these make korma. I use delicious coconut-cashew paste as I am making the South Indian version of khurma. I always use whole garam masala in vegetable khurma.

Generally we make a main dish and think about side dish. But in case of khurma.. we decide to make khurma and then think about what main dish will go well with this royal dish. Is it going to be roti/chapathi or iddiyappam or parotta or appam or poori or idli/dosai or naan or phulka or pulav or jeera rice or ghee rice or plain white rice or... what else..?

Making khurma is little tedious but its all worth it. Khurma needs planning ahead about vegetables, availability of fresh coconut at home, all spices must be in our masala dabba, and above all.. the mood to make khurma.

I generally make vegetable khurma with white rice for lunch and for dinner I buy instant or ready made idiyappam or parotta from the shop for the left over khurma.

The list of ingredients is elaborate. This is how I make vegetable khurma.

Ingredients:

Vegetables for the khurma:  

Half cup of each of the vegetable.

• Carrot 
• Green beans
• Potato
• Peas
• Double beans (fresh)
• Turnip

For the gravy:

• Onion - 1 medium
• Tomato - 1 medium
• Ginger-Garlic-Green chilli (crushed) - 1 tablespoon
• Cinnamon - 2 pieces
• Cloves - 3 cloves
• Cardamom - 3 pods
• Sombu (saunf/fennel seeds) - 1/2 teaspoon
• Bay leaf - 2
• Kasoori methi - 2 teaspoons of dried leaves
• Chillipowder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Coriander powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric - 1/4 teaspoon
• Oil -  as required

For the paste:

• Coconut - half coconut grating
• Cashew nut - 1 tablespoon (soak for 30 minutes)
• Poppy seeds ( khuskhus) - 1 teaspoon (soak at least for 1 hour in hot water)
• Sombu (saunf/fennel seeds) - 1 teaspoon

Procedure:

• Wash, peel and cut the vegetables for khurma into small pieces and keep ready.
• Make the coconut paste with the ingredients mentioned in "for the paste". (While grating, avoid the black part of the coconut to get more even and smooth paste of coconut)
• Take a wide mouthed container. heat oil.
• Add the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and saunf (perunseeragam/sombu) and let it release its essence.
• Add the crushed ginger-garlic-green chillies into the oil. Saute for few seconds. Let the raw smell disappear.
• Add the onion and saute. Let it turn golden brown.
• Add the kasoori methi leaves and stir again.
• Add the tomato. Saute well till oil separates.
• Add the vegetables. Mix well. Saute for 5 minutes.
• Add the turmeric powder, chilli and coriander powder and salt to the vegetables.
• Mix well. Wait for 3 minutes. Add 2 cups of water. (add more water if you find that this water is not enough).
• Close the container and let it be on medium heat till the vegetables are cooked. 
• Check whether the vegetables are done. They should not be over cooked.
• Once they are cooked, add the coconut-cashew paste.
• Mix it up. Add more water if it is too thick.
• Let this boil for 5 minutes. Never let boil too long after adding coconut paste.
• Garnish with coriander leaves. And the delicious, rich vegetable khurma is ready to be served. 

Serve it with your favourite rice variety or roti or parotta or 
idiyappam. Its a great dish for potluck.

Happy cooking !!