Cooking Up A Storm: Vegetable Korma

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  Being sequestered at home for thirty-six hours as an entire family unit is quite the social experiment. As Nemo raged, we did all the things one is supposed to do with loved ones during an unexpected long weekend with two feet of snow rapidly piling up outside.

We  played the customary family board game that one is expected to play. By The Fireplace. We built the customary snowman. We ate breakfast together. And lunch. And dinner. We dranks cups of tea. Smiled cheerily at one another and maybe at some point even Discussed Feelings.

Then things began to unravel pretty rapidly.

The Youngling (who had hitherto watched unprecedented amounts of TV), had to be rudely extricated from whatever she was engrossed in when she asked us what Viagra was. The Boy attempted to jet off and buy a computer/circular saw/snowboard - but was rudely thwarted by the driving ban imposed in the state. I realized I couldn't open the front door. We shoveled in epic proportions because the snow removal people decided to sleep in.

I decided that the best way to weather the storm was to cook up one.

Much animal protein was consumed for 48 hours before I decided it may not be a bad idea to include a little roughage in our diet. The end result was a vegetable korma, made with whatever was around at home. I adapted this from Sailus Kitchen, one of my favorites

Vegetable Kurma

I made this dish with a small amount of grated coconut (because we didn't have enough in the freezer!) and ground in a fistful of almonds to make it creamy (because we didn't have cashews, which is what I usually use!). I also tempered the spice level so that The Youngling could partake.

For the veggies in this dish, I used a combination of carrot, broccoli, potatoes, green beans and peas (I think cauliflower works better than broccoli though) 

Mixed vegetables - 2 cups
Onion (chopped) - 1
Tomato (chopped) - 1
Tomato paste - 2 tsp
Ginger/garlic paste - 1tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder  - 1tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - pinch
Bay leaves - 2
Salt to taste

Masala:
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Almonds - fistful
Poppy seeds - 1 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 2-3

Steam/boil the vegetables with a little salt and the turmeric powder until they are partly cooked. Blend the "Masala" ingredients into a paste.

In a medium sized pan, heat oil and add bay leaves and chopped onion. Saute until the onion becomess translucent and then turns light brown in color.

Add the Kashmiri chilli and coriander powders and the garam masala to the pan and saute for 1-2 minutes.

Add the Masala paste, followed by the chopped tomatoes and the tomato paste. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the oil separates out to the top. Add the vegetables and cook on low heat for another 1-15 minutes. Add a little hot water to the gravy to thin it if needed.

Add salt to taste. Serve with hot rotis, or steamed rice with a side of yogurt.