South Indian Style Vegetable Kurma Recipe

South Indian Style Vegetable Kurma is a delicious mild flavored mixed vegetable curry that is usually paired with chapathi or poori. Wonderful aromatic spices are subdued with thick coconut paste and cashew paste to give it a rich creamy texture. Poppy seeds are must that goes into the kurma. Grind it with cashews to get a nice thick creamy paste. The flavor of poppy seeds in the kurma makes a lot of difference. Add any vegetables of your choice to this kurma, but the best options are carrots, beans, green peas, potatoes and cauliflower. Course : Lunch Ingridients : 2 cups Mixed vegetables , use carrots, beans, green peas, potatoes and cauliflower 2 Onions 2 Tomatoes , pureed 2 Green Chillies 1 tablespoon Red Chilli powder 1-1/2 tablespoon Coriander Powder (Dhania) 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder (Haldi) 1 teaspoon Black pepper powder Salt , to taste 2 inch Cinnamon Stick (Dalchini) 3 Cardamom (Elaichi) Pods/Seeds 4 Cloves (Laung) 1 tablespoon Ginger Garlic Paste 4 tablespoon Fresh coconut , grated 2 tablespoon Poppy seeds 15 to 20 Cashew nuts 2 tablespoon Oil Salt , to taste Coriander (Dhania) Leaves , for garnish Instructions To begin with South Indian Style Vegetable Kurma, clean, wash and chop all the vegetables into small pieces. Cook them either in a pressure cooker or open pot. Do not overcook the vegetables; they have to be cooked Al dente. Keep them aside.Finely chop onions and puree the tomatoes without adding water.Soak cashews in enough water for about 30 minutes. Grind soaked cashews and poppy seeds with little water into fine paste.Grind grated coconut into thick smooth paste. Keep it aside.Heat oil in a deep bottom pan. Add cinnamon sticks, cardamom and clove. Next add finely chopped onions and green chilies, sauté till onions turn translucent.Add ginger garlic paste and cook till raw smell of the paste is gone. Add tomato puree and cook till oil separates from the sides of the pan.Add the spice powders and mix well. Next, add cooked vegetables alone with water in it and bring it to boilAdd salt to taste and cook for another 5 minutes. Now add coconut paste and cashew-poppy seed paste, simmer. Mix well and turn off the flame. Do not let it boil again; else coconut paste will split the kurma.Remove from flame immediately and South Indian Style Vegetable Kurma is ready to be served.