“Vegetable- Moringa (Mashinga Pallo/ Drumstick Leaves) Kurma” … Vegetable Kurma is a common curry prepared often and served with ghee rice/ paratha/ poori/ pulav etc. … I love this curry from my childhood and never tire of relishing it … I had purchased a huge bunch of moringa leaves, these are loaded with health benefits, having properties for immunity building too, the need of the day … the leaves as such do not have a taste of their own and adapt well when added to any dishes or roti/ parathas etc. I added a handful of the same to kurma and though there was no much of change in taste as such, it was definitely nutrition that I was after this time … Yummilicious …
** Kurma, a delicious curry has been posted in a few variations in the blog before. This is one of the most loved dish in my home, prepared mostly with vegetables and my Mom made the best kurma and my recipe to date remains the same. I just make mix and match of vegetables and prepare the same while I keep the recipe intact most of the time as we simply love it in my home. This time however I decided to add on some moringa leaves while grinding the masala for added on nutritional benefits. Again usually tomatoes are added, but this time I added on tamarind to the masala for tart taste as I did not have any at home.
** Sharing a common link at the bottom of this recipe to all Kurma dishes which you can browse through and try out in leisure. Please do not hesitate to try out variations in dishes, off course there are times when not all experiments give satisfactory results, but that should not deter you from trying. Life itself is a trial of errors, we all make mistakes, but don’t we try to rectify them and go ahead, same should be the case with food, at the most if we do not like it we can just give it away to some needy. Well, I hope you all are keeping safe and happy, do take care and follow the government issued guidelines as and when is given.
** Here is my Recipe for “Vegetable- Moringa (Mashinga Pallo/ Drumstick Leaves) Kurma” …. My Style, just a small twist from my Ammas original recipe. ….
** Cut into florets about 3 cups of cauliflowers. Peel off the skin and cut two large sized carrot into one inch sized pieces. Also peel off the pods and collect fresh green peas, say about 2 cups. You can use any other veggies you desire to add on too, like beetroot, french beans, capsicums etc. This time however I have used only these three here. Put them all together in a colander and rinse under running water. Bring about 1 liter of water to boiling point and then add on the veggies into it and bring to a boil, lower the heat and cook till the veggies and just cooked about 70%. Cover and keep it aside ready.
** For Ground Masala : Heat 2-3 tblsp of oil (tel/ tela) in a kadai/pan, when hot lower the heat and add 1 large sized onion (piyavu/ onion) roughly chopped and fry for 2 minutes, now add in 1 inch piece of ginger (adrak/ alle’) cut into pieces, 6-8 peeled and chopped garlic (losun/ lehsun), 6-7 green chillies (tarni mirsanga/ hari mirchi) cut into pieces, 4-5 cloves (lavanga/ laung), 2, 1 inch pieces of cinnamon (tikesali), 1 tblsp coriander seeds (kothambari/ dhania), 1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds), ½ tsp pepper (kali miri/ mire), 2-3 green cardamoms (ellaichi/ yelu), 1 tblsp cus cus (kus kus), ½ tsp badisep (saunf/ fennel seed), large pinch of Jaivitri (outer skin of nutmeg), 10 fresh curry leaves (kadipatta/ karbevu), 12-15 kashmiri red chillies (byadgi mirchi/ kumte mirsanga) and further fry well for sometime, say about 5-7 minutes, do not raise the heat or brown them.
** Lastly add ½ tsp of haldi (turmeric powder) (I avoid adding haldi initially so that it does not burn or give darker orangish tinge, this way it gives perfect color), mix well and then add one heaped cup of freshly grated coconut (nariyal/ soyi) and fry all for about another 5 to 8 minutes. Do not let the coconut get browned or burnt, be careful and keep frying on medium to low heat, we need it get them just crisp is enough, that’s it. Lastly add cleaned, washed and chopped, 1 cup of fresh coriander leaves (Kottambari pallo/ dhania) along with ½ cup of moringa (drumstick/ nugge soppu) leaves and fry for just a minute or two, remove from fire, add a small marble sized piece of tamarind (chinchama/ imly) and mix well, If not you can also add a tsp of tamarind paste too. Let cool a bit and then grind to a very smooth paste with just required amount of warm water. Keep this ready aside.
** Note : You can use the veggies cooked water only for grinding of the masala, that is what I did, I cooked the veggies in water, drained off some hot water and used it for grinding. By using hot water, you get a very fine masala paste as in case of cus cus and garam masala ingredients which are slightly tough to grind, do try it out, I am sure you will love it.
** Heat about 1 tblsp of ghee/ toop and 2 tblsp of oil (tela/ tel) in a thick bottomed kadai, when hot lower the heat to medium and add one large sized onion (piyavu/ kanda) cut into cubes and layers loosed out well. Fry till they turn soft and translucent, now add in the ground masala and fry on low heat for about 2-3 minutes or till well done (shirshirache as we say in Konkani). Add in the cooked veggies along with the remaining water in it. Check and add in another cup or more water as desired. Add salt (namak/ meeta) to taste and bring to a boil on medium flame stirring in between to avoid it getting burnt at the bottom. Once you see bubbles appearing on the surface, lower the heat to minimum and simmer the curry for 5-10 minutes. Lastly add in a small lemon sized ball of homemade butter/ loni and mix well. Remove from fire, keep it covered aside for 20-25 minutes and it is done.
** Note : You can garnish with freshly grated coriander (dhania/ kothimbir) leaves if desired. It does look lovely and definitely adds on aroma, but I had used all while grinding, so I did not have any spare, hence I left it out. You can also add in a few cubes of fresh paneer, it tastes awesome, I usually do not, but prepare the ones with addition of paneer separately as paneer kurma. Again, addition of Butter/ Loni is optional and can be skipped if not desired. But, if you have never tried, do give it a try, you'll get that lovely aromatic dish as served in hotel.
** “Vegetable- Moringa (Mashinga Pallo/ Drumstick Leaves) Kurma” is done and ready to be served. Tastes awesome served with ghee rice or mildly spiced pulav or rice dishes. Also goes well served with paratha, poori, appo or even panpolo. Tastes great with dosas also, However, my father always loved to relish this dish with Rava Idly, a Idly prepared with rava along with beaten curds and it tastes awesome. I have kept aside some curry to prepare the Idly and relish the same, will post the same too, though I have done so before. You can relish it with any dish of your choice, though today I prepared and served it with ghee rice and spice egg curry. Do try out this dish and enjoy with your family and friends.
** Note : You can add in two chopped ripe tomatoes or ¼ cup of beaten curds to the gravy too, instead of tamarind in case you do not like or want to avoid the same. It tastes awesome, though I usually add in tomatoes, but today I tried with tamarind for a change as I was adding on moringa leaves and I wanted to remove off the leaves bitterness if any.
** Sharing a common link to all “Kurma” recipes shared in the blog, you may browse through and try those that you find to your or your families liking, they are all wonderful in taste ….
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