Recipe of the Week: Navratan Korma
Regular readers of the Recipe of the Week will know that I am always happy to substitute and otherwise change up a recipe. This week I left out a big component. This korma called for pineapple, which I decided to ignore. I love pineapple cold, but I'm not a big fan of it in hot dishes, but the real reason I left it out is that doesn't grow in Ontario and so it's on my "almost never buy" list.
The recipe also called for cheddar cheese to garnish, which I also deleted. Cheddar cheese on a curry just seemed, well, weird. Having said all that, this was a really lovely dish. It's not a bold kind of curry, but rather a delicate sophisticated taste. Serve it over rice, or with an Indian bread and you have a nice break from all the rich, heavy Christmas foods around now. Feel free to use whatever vegetables you want. I'll leave it up to you about the pineapple.Navratan Korma
300 g mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, beans and potatoes)2 tbsp vegetable oil1 small onion, finely minced1/2 tbsp garlic, minced1/2 tbsp ginger, minced3 tbsp tomato puree3 fresh green chillies, slit down the middle (I chopped mine up)1 tsp turmeric powder1 tsp garam masala powdersalt2 tbsp cashew nuts2 tbsp canned or fresh pineapple chunks1/3 cup light creamfew chopped glace cherries to garnish (or used dried cranberries)Coriander leaves to garnish
1. Peel and dice the carrots and potatoes. Chop the beans. Boil all four vegetables in water until just tender, drain and reserve.2. Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion for a minute or so. Keep stirring to prevent it from sticking and stir in the ginger and garlic.3. Add the tomato puree and chillies and cook for a few minutes.4. Tip in the cooked vegetables, turmeric, garam masala and salt. Mix gently and cook for a couple of minutes before folding in the cashew nuts, pineapple and cream. Heath through without allowing to boil.5. Serve hot, garnished with the cherries and coriander leaves.
Serves 4
This recipe is from India's Vegetarian Cooking by Monisha Bharadwaj
