Navratan Kurma

The veggies

• 1 or 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup shelled peas
• 1 large potato
• 1 cup chopped green beans
• 1 cup chopped cauliflower
• 8-9 babycorn, chopped
• 2 thick round pineapple slices, chopped

for the royal paste:

• 2 tbsp poppy seeds/khus khus
• ¼ cup almonds
• ¼ cup cashew
• 2 tbsp melon seeds/magaz

for the korma:

• 2 medium sized onions, sliced
• 2-3 green chilies, chopped
• ½ tbsp chopped or crushed ginger
• 1 and half cup curd/yogurt
• ½ cup cream
• ½ tsp mace and green cardamom powder ( just crush a pinch of mace and 2-3 green cardamoms in a mortar-pestle)
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 or 2 tsp red chili powder
• 4-5 tbsp ghee
• salt as required

whole garam masala:

• 5 green cardamom
• 1 black cardamom
• 5 cloves
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf
• a pinch of mace

for the garnish

• 10-12 pistachois
• 10 cashewnuts
• 10 almonds
• 10 walnut halves
• 1 tbsp raisins
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1 tbsp melon seeds (optional)
• 1 tbsp chopped mint leaves
• a pinch of saffron strands
• ½ tbsp julienned ginger

INSTRUCTIONS

preparing the paste:

1. soak poppy seeds for 30 minutes in water.
2. blanch the almonds and remove the skin.
3. make a fine paste of the blanched almonds, poppy seeds, cashew-nuts, melon seeds with around ½ cup of water.

preparing the garnish:

1. blanch the almonds and pistachois. later remove the skin.
2. soak the almonds and pistachois with the cashew, sunflower seeds and raisins in warm water for 15 minutes.
3. you can either chop the dry fruits or halve them. but keep the raisins whole.

preparing the korma:

1. heat ghee in a handi or a deep pan. add all the whole garam masala mentioned above and fry till they crackle.
2. add the sliced onions and brown them.
3. now add the ginger and green chilies and stir for a minute.
4. lower the flame or close the flame if you want. we will be adding turmeric and red chili powder. care should be taken they do not get burnt.
5. add both the turmeric and red chili powder.
6. add the veggies, curd and the paste.
7. add salt
8. add ½ cup or 1 cup water depending on what consistency you want of the gravy
9. mix well.
10. cover and simmer the veggies till they are cooked.
11. once the veggies are cooked, add the cream and stir it with the rest of the korma for a minute.
12. thats it. sprinkle the mace and cardamom powder and half of the garnish.
13. stir and serve the navratan korma with the remaining garnish.
14. the navratan korma goes well with jeera rice or roti or naan.