“Chilke-wali Moong Dal Vegetable Kurma” ... The measure of intelligence is the ability to change and when that small change gives good results its one step towards achieving goals … for a change prepared veg.kurma with addition of dal and giving it a seasoning/ tadka of whole shallots, a small change nevertheless a good one as this Kurma tastes excellent served with puffed poories/ parathas/ panpolo/ pulav/ jeera rice/ curd- rava idlies etc. … Yummilcious …
** Kurma is a curry often prepared to be served with parathas/ poori/ pulav etc. In fact my father loved the combination of veg. kurma with curd based rava vegetable Idly which I have shared before, you may try out that combination too, its simply awesome. Kurma though is usually prepared with vegetables, it can be prepared with anything like pulses, dals, eggs, chicken, mutton etc. as Kurma is a curry that gels in well with them making it that much more delicious, just go ahead and try it.
** I must mention that this is the first time I am preparing kurma with addition of dal, though I have used whole pulses like chickpeas, rajma and jeavaro before. Here I have used moong dal with skin for the recipe as I was curious with the outcome of kurma with dal. Decades back I had come across a chef on TV show, who had mentioned about adding dal in kurma but unfortunately that is all I could remember as I had not written it down as is my usual practice when I learn something new.
** I love experimenting with new ideas and love giving small twists to existing recipes, especially those which have stood the test of times. Variations in Kurma curry is just one of my experiments and a few more are still to be accomplished. But I am very satisfied with the outcome of this recipe and its there to stay in my kitchen for a long time to come. I have used whole shallots/ small pearl onions for seasoning which you can skip or add one inch sized pieces of onions too.
** Tastes great served with poories and panpolo, though you can serve it with parathas or pulav/ ghee rice if desired, if you want to avoid oily stuff. As for me I love relishing a few poories in limits while for the other part I prefer rice dishes. Again, I kept aside some curry and following day we relished it with panpolo (neer dosa) for breakfast which is one of our favorite combo at home, try it, taste great, I always prepare in bulk to relish it following days a little bit with my favorite combos.
** Here is my recipe for “Chilke-wali Moong Dal Vegetable Kurma” … My style, my own concoction … Do try it out and enjoy with your family …
** Ingredients :
Moong Dal with skin/ Green Gram Split Dal with Skin/ Chilkewali moong dal : 1 cup
Coriander Leaves/Kothimbari Pallo/Dhania : ½ cup finely chopped.
Butter/Loni : one small lemon sized ball. (Optional)
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste
** For Ground Masala :
Oil/ Tel/ Tela : 2-3 tblsp
Desiccated Coconut/ Kisshile Kobre/ Grated Dry Coconut : 1 cup
Ginger/ Alle’/ Adrak : 1 inch piece
Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun : 6-8 skinned.
Cashew Nuts/ Kajjubi/ Kaju : handful
Goda Masala or Garam Masala Powder : 1 tsp
Malwani Masala Powder or any Curry Masala Powder : 2 tblsp
Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder/ Mirsange Pitti/ Mirchi tikkat : 1 tsp
Black Pepper/ Kali Miri Powder : ½ tsp
Fennel/ Badisep/ Saunf Powder : ¼ tsp
Dhania/ Coriander/ Kottambari Powder : 1 tblsp
Jeera/ Cumin Powder : 1 tsp
Haldi/ Turmeric Powder : ½ tsp
** Vegetables I used :
Fresh Green Peas/ Vatana : 150-200 gms
Carrot/ Gajjar : 2 medium sized
Capsicum/ Donnemarsinga/ Simlamirchi : 2 large sized
Cauliflower : 150-200 gms
Chayote Squash/ Chow Chow/ Seemebadanekayi : 1 small sized.
Raw Mango/ Ambuli/ Kairi/ Mavinakayi : 1 small sized
** For Seasoning/ Tempering/ Pannaka/ Tadka :
Ghee/Toop : 1 tblsp
Oil/ Tel/ Tela : 1 tblsp
Mustard Seeds/ Rai/ Sasam : 1 tsp
Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbevu : 10-12 fresh leaves
Shallots/ Pearl Onion/ Small Kanda : 10-12 (skin peeled and retained whole)
OR
Onion/ Piyavu/ Kanda : 1 large sized peeled and cut to one inch sized pieces.
** Wash, drain and add the moong dal with skin into a pressure cooker pan with 2 cups of water and pressure cook on medium heat to 2-3 whistles. Remove and keep aside to let the pressure fall on itself, when able to open the lid, do so and check if cooked well, if not once again pressure cook to few more whistles only if necessary. The dal should be cooked to very soft mushy consistency for the preparation of kurma, so cook accordingly.
** For Ground Masala : Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan, when hot add in the onion, ginger and garlic, all three cut to pieces and fry on medium heat for a few minutes. Add in the cashew nuts and further fry for another minute or two. Now add in all the masala powder and continue frying for 2-3 minutes. Lastly add the desiccated coconut and fry all together on low heat until evenly browned. Take care not to burn the masala or else the taste will be lost. Remove and add the roasted ingredients into a mixer grinder and grind to a very fine paste adding water as much is necessary only.
** Cut the cauliflower into medium sized florets and keep it aside. Shell and keep the vatan ready aside. Peel off the outer skin of carrot and cut into medium sized pieces. Remove the stem and inner seeds of capsicum and cut them into pieces. Wash and wipe dry the raw mango, slice off the stem portion and slice off thinly the outer skin portion, then cut the inner edible portion into small pieces discarding the inner seed. Peel off the skin of chow chow, discard the inner seed and cut edible portion to small pieces.
** In a vessel add cauliflower, vatana with about one cup of water and bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium and cook for few minutes, then add in carrot and chow chow pieces and continue cooking till its 50% done. Add in capsicum and raw mango pieces and continue cooking, adding water if necessary till all the veggies and 75% done. Do not overcook any of the veggies, we need to retain the crunch, the very reason why they are not added all at once as the cooking time varies.
** Note : I have added as is available veggies for this kurma, you can add in any of your choice and leave out that which is not available too.
** Now add the pressure cooked moong dal with skin to the cooked veggies along with ground masala and gently mix all the ingredients well. Add in more water if the consistency is too thick to bring to required consistency. Add salt to taste, mix well and let cook on medium heat stirring often till you see bubbles appearing on surface. Lower the heat and let simmer while we go ahead preparing the tempering.
** For Seasoning/ Pannaka : Heat oil+ ghee in a small pan, when hot add mustard seeds and when they begin to splutter add in the curry leaves and fry for a few seconds. Finally add shallots and fry until the onions turn translucent, it takes about 3-4 minutes, remove and add it to simmering curry and mix well
** Note : Shallots/ Small whole pearl onions taste wonderful when added to this curry, do use small sized ones and retain them whole. However if it’s not available or you would prefer not to use it, then you can always add large one, peeled and cut to one inch sized pieces. Once again you can completely skip adding onions in tempering and add them when cooking the veggies itself, in which case, heat oil and fry it till translucent and then continue by adding the veggies and water similar to the method mentioned above.
** Mix the curry after seasoning and garnish with finely chopped fresh coriander leaves. Add butter, cover and let it rest aside for about 20 minutes for the flavors to be infused in well into the curry. Just before serving give it a good stir, if too thick add some hot water and mix well. This is a semi thick consistency kurma curry, just like the other kurma dishes. Also, check salt and add if required and its done.
** “Chilke-wali Moong Dal Vegetable Kurma” is done and ready to be served. I served it with poori for lunch and it was a fantastic combo. Tastes awesome served with parathas, jeera rice, pulav or even panpolo (neer dosa). I always prepare in more quantity so that I can serve it for breakfast next morning with dosa especially panpolo as in my home we love kurma served with dosa and rava idly. This time I served it with panpolo for bf next morning and that too was an awesome combo. Children will love to dunk the poori/ dosa into this curry and relish them for sure, so do try it out.
** Sharing a common lin to all “Kurma” recipes shared in the blog before, you can browse through them in leisure and try them out as and when you find the time and need to, they all taste wonderful and a few are very old recipes followed over decades too ….
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