A spicy sinful indulgance, Kurma, as I do it !

This could be called as kurma, but I prefer to call it vegetables in spicy cashew coconut gravy. I used to cook this for every party and my friends here just love it so very much. I tried to find a picture of this to upload but I didnt have the habit of taking pictures until recently and since now there arnt any more Indians in my town, I have nearly stopped making this. The very first dish that bore my trademark and made me a famous person in this little town of Mülheim.

I am huge vegetable fan and there is not a single vegetable that is not delectable to my taste buds and this particular facts makes me cook dishes that have multiple vegetables involved. The craze for vegetables starts from purchasing them, in cutting them and eating them raw whilst cooking. I should mention here that I have different knifes for these purposes and thank Herr Saroj Panda for gifting me with a single piece steel knife that is a collectable for life. An authentic German make, Nirosta, worth nearly 50 Euros. I use this to cut potatoes, beetroot, nholkhol and similar vegetables. For onions and tomatoes it is my pure white non stick nano carbon coated non stick knife from Zassenhaus, for cabbage and fine mincing, it is the Edelstahl and for fruits and hand held cutting, Cartini. 

I also love to conjure up my own spice mix for the dishes. Using garam masala powder that is readily available is limited to everyday cooking and self one pot laziness. Especially in this particular dish, it is just an imaginative expression of spices. An ode to spices I should say!

Potatoes, carrots, beetroot, nholkhol and beans. All cut into similar sizes, big or small according to the mood of the day or the feel of the moment are steam cooked until just done. The water used for cooking is transferred in to a pan, heated with a dash of pepper and some salt and transferred to a bowl to be drank as soup while cooking the kurma! Salt is added to the boiled vegetables, shaken, and kept aside. Finely chopped onions are sauted in butter and to this is added the spice mix. Cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, annas flower, marathi moggu and a dash of poppy seeds are powdered well in the mixie and to this powder, soaked cashew is added and this paste is added to the onions and cooked. Red chili powder can be added at this stage along with a sprinkle of turmeric. Add a little water to aid the cooking of the cashews and not to burn this congress. Once this is cooked, the boiled vegetables are added and stirred carefully without smashing them. This is why it is important not to steam cook them to totality. Finally, coconut milk is added and the heat is turned off. Let it stay in the heat for sometime and finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

I do not add ginger and garlic to this nor do I use a single drop of oil. See, healthy and semi aacharam :P

Eat this with hot poori and oh, be warned, your house will smell of spices for days after cooking this!