Chettinad Kurma

An Authentic Chettinad Kurma Recipe

South Indian cuisine is famous for their use of a variety of spices. I absolutely love having kurma with chappatis. Chettinad kurma is food for sustenance. With this finger licking kurma I would once again like to profess my undying love for Chettinad cuisine.Hot and pungent with fresh ground masalas, this chettinad kurma is prepared with a variety of spices, this kurma goes awesome as side dish with rice also with idlies, dosais, rotis, fried papads. Easy to cook,healthy to eat. This is my fav for sunday lunch.

Note Down The Ingredients

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• Carrot - 1 big, cut into small cubes
• Potato (very small size)-1
• Beans-6, diced
• Peas-handful
• Cauliflower (5 or 6 florets- boiled for 5 minutes)
• Capsicum (Green bell pepper) - 1/3 cup, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup sliced onions
• 1/2 cup finely chopped tomatoes
• Any other vegetable which you like to add except brinjal, veggies not to amount more than 1 1/2 cups.
• 4 tablespoon oil
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

The main taste of the kuruma depends on this masala.
Ingredients For Masala Paste

• Grated Coconut - about half cup (not packed)
• 1/2 tablespoon khasa khasa/poppy seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon sombu/fennel
• Pottukadalai-1 tablespoon
• Poppy seeds (Kasa Kasa) - 1 tsp
• 1 cloves
• Cardamom - 1
• 1 inch piece cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 tablespoon cashews
• Garlic-6 pods
• Ginger-a small piece
• Small handful of fresh cilantro
• Green chilli-6(according to taste),Chilli powder-1 teaspoon

Method To Prepare Masala Paste

1. In a tsp of oil, fry cinnamon, cardamom, clove & fennel seeds then add the ginger, garlic & green chillies, pottukadalai, poppy seeds, cashew/almond and fry for three minutes.
2. Finally add the coconut. Grind this to a smooth paste with some water.
3. Roasting the ingredients before grinding is a must. It increases the taste.

Method To Prepare Chettinad Kurma

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1. Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the fennel then the cinnamon,cloves and poppy seeds. later add the onions and the chillies. Saute till the onions turn brown. Now add the grated coconut and fry for about 2 minutes
2. Add tomato pieces.To this add the ginger garlic paste and give it a nice stir.Saute well.
3. Add all the vegetables except cauliflower and stir fry them.
4. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes
5. Add little water and salt and the chilli powder.
6. Put all this in a cooker for steam cook or you can lid the sacuce pan for 10 minutes(until veggies become soft).
7. One the veggies are well cooked, add the grinded masala to it.
8. Now add the pre boiled cauliflower. Add salt and cook for another 5 minutes.
9. Due to the cashews, pottukadalai and kas kas the curry will get thickened. If the gravy is very thick you can add more water and cook more.
10. Turn off the flame and add a tsp of lemon juice incase you like it little sour.

Tips
• Use the chillies according to your taste.
• I have used vegetables in this recipe. If you like you can add chicken also.Marinate the mutton/chicken pieces with yogurt,turmeric powder and coriander powder with enough salt atleast for 6 hours or overnite
• You can add yogurt in the kurma incase it turns out spicy for you.
• Cashew and almonds are optional.
• Too much of vegetables should not be used (little of all types is enough). Use all veggies except brinjal.
Serve with Idiyappam, Roti or Rice. Enjoy!