Vegetable Kurma | No Coconut Recipe

If there is one recipe where I don't mind eating any vegetable, its Kurma. Amma used to make variations of Kurma recipe and every single one was a favorite at our household. The one with a lot of potatoes and filled with the richness of coconut would be so tasty that I would not mind eating any number of I. And then there was this version with whole lot of vegetables cooked in a paste of coconut, pudina and coriander - which Amma used to make as a side dish for dosa. What heavenly taste! Another one of my favorites is with meal-maker/soya chunks. I used to save up all the soya chunks till the end of the meal - actually I still do 😀 Almost all of my amma's kurma recipes have coconut or atleast a hint a coconut.

Recently, I tried to prepare kurma without coconut and yet, it turned out creamy rich with flavours and it was something that we liked so much. I used all sorts of vegetables I had in my refrigerator and for the creamy consistency, I used fried gram along with a few cashews. I made this kurma to go with the Set Dosa and it was a heavenly combination. I can't think of any other side dish than this one, for the melt in mouth sweetish set dosas. I would be posting the Set Dosa recipe tomorrow - so stay tuned 😀

To make Vegetable Kurma with No Coconut

Serves - 4

Time to prepare - 30mins

What I used -

• Mixed Vegetables, 2 cups ( I used carrots, beans, potatoes and cauliflower)
• Onion, 1 large
• Tomato, 2 medium
• Garlic Pods, 6-7
• Cloves, 2
• Green Cardamom, 1
• Cinnamon, 1" stick
• Oil, 2 tsp
• Fried Gram, 2 tbsp
• Cashews, 5-6
• Green Chilli, 1
• Poppy Seeds, 1 tsp
• Kashmiri Chilli Powder, 1.5 tsp
• Garam Masala Powder, ½ teaspoon (optional)
• Turmeric Powder, ½ tsp
• Salt, as required
• Coriander Leaves, a few sprigs

How I made -

1. In some water, boil all the vegetables until ¾^th done. Strain the water and save it for later. Set the vegetables aside.
2. In a pan, dry roast the following ingredients - fried gram, cashews, green chilli, peeled garlic pods and poppy seeds. These doesn't have to brown. Just roast for 2-3mins.
3. In a mixer jar, grind them all together smooth by adding a little water. Set aside.
4. In a pan, heat oil. Add cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Let them puff. Add finely chopped onion. Fry until translucent. Add tomatoes and cook until mushy.
5. Add the ground paste and pour enough water. Add the boiled vegetables too. Add required salt, Kashmiri red chilli powder, garam masala powder and turmeric. Mix well.
6. The paste can thicken quite fast. So keep the flame on low. Let it simmer for 5-8 mins until the paste is cooked well and the vegetables absorb the masala.
7. Finally add chopped coriander and stir well.
8. Serve hot with Set Dosa - recipe coming up tomorrow! 🙂

Note -

• Any vegetables can be used as per preference.
• The rich creamy texture is due to the ground paste that are we are adding. Cashews are optional but they give creaminess to the dish.
• As the gravy can thicken quite fast, keep the flame on low all the time.
• The rich bright red color is because of the Kashmiri red chilli powder and it's a must.