Vegetable Korma with Spinach

If you are looking for some side dish which is really very healthy, then this is the right page for you. It contains goodness of all varieties of vegetable including green leafy vegetables such as mint, coriander and spinach, which gives an excellent green colour to this dish.

This goes well with any mild flavored pulao, chapathi/roti/naan, set dosa, or even with hot steamed plain rice.

I used 1 cup of mixed vegetable for the preparation. Vegetables such as carrot, capsicum, beans, potato, cauliflower, broccoli, green peas etc are mostly used in this.

Ingredients

For Grinding

• Spinach - 2 cups
• Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
• Coriander leaves - 1 cup
• Ginger - 1" piece
• Cinnamon - 1" piece
• Cloves - 3 nos
• Cardamom - 2 nos
• Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
• Oil- 1/2 tsp
• Green chillies - 3, slit
• Fried gram dal- 1 tblspn
• Fresh coconut - 1/2 cup grated

Other Ingredients

• Mixed vegetables - 1 cup (carrot, beans, potato, peas, cauliflower, capsicum etc).
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Red chillies - 2 , broken
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Onion - 1 cup , sliced or cubed
• Tomato - 1 no
• Salt - to taste
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves - to garnish

Method

To Grind

• Boil water in a pan / vessel and and the washed spinach leaves. Let it boil for 5 minutes. Close the lid and keep it aside. Let it cool down completely.
• Heat oil in a pan and fry the green chillies and ginger for a minute.
• Add Cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and fennel seeds. Fry for some time until you get a nice aroma from the spices.
• Now add the coriander and mint leaves and cook till they are shrunk. Turn off the heat
• Mix Grated coconut and fried gram dal and fry in the heat of the pan itself.
• Allow the mixture to cool completely and grind along with the blanched spinach (Step 1) into a smooth paste.
• Your Green Paste is now ready.

How to Proceed?

• Cut all the vegetables in equal size and shape for getting even cooking on all veggies. I prefer to dice them. But it is purely up to you. But make sure to have the same type and size of cutting on all veggies.
• Heat oil in a pan and crackle mustard and cumin seeds. Add urad dal and fry till golden brown and then add the broken red chillies. Fry for few seconds.
• Add onions, sugar and salt. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add turmeric
• Add the tomatoes and cook until mushy
• Now add all the veggies and 1 cup of water
• Close the lid and let the vegetable get cooked. It should be cooked, but not too mushy. It should hold its shape.
• Once cooked, add the prepared green paste and give it a good mix until combined. Check the seasoning and add accordingly.
• Pour enough water to adjust the consistency.
• Close the lid and allow it to cook for another 3 to 4 minutes.
• Turn off the heat. Transfer to serving dish garnished with coriander leaves.
• Serve with whatever main dish you prepared!! Enjoy

Notes

• I have not added any additional spice powder in this preparation, as myself and my hubby prefer this. But you can add if you wish to. Spice powders like coriander powder, chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder and kitchen king masala are mostly used. But it tastes really good even without all these.
• Chilli powder or additional chillies while grinding may be added according to your spice preference.
• Do not use brinjal or ladies finger for this preparation. It cooks faster. Hence it will become mushy while cooking along with other veggies and spoil the consistency of the dish.

 

Aaloo Gobhi Koftas in White Gravy

White gravy is very popular in North India. These are very mild flavored when compared to other North Indian gravies and it will taste awesome with any koftas. These are very rich, creamy and delicious with extensive use of cashews, almonds, curds, cream, etc.

        I made my koftas very simple this time by just using potato and grated cauliflower. But if you wish, you can add paneer, khoya, grated carrot, grated beetroot, cashews, raisins  etc (Anything which are chopped finely).

Ingredients

For koftas

• Cauliflower - 1 cup, grated
• Potato - 1 cup, boiled and mashed.
• Coriander leaves - 2 tblspn, finely chopped
• Green chillies - 1, finely chopped
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp (or according to taste)
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Corn flour - 1 tblspn
• Milk - 1 tblspn
• Oil - for shallow frying

For the white Gravy

• Cashews - 1 tblspn
• Almonds - 1 tblspn
• Melon seeds - 2 tsp
• Onions - 1.5 cup , roughly chopped
• Ginger - 1 small piece
• Garlic - 3 cloves

Other Ingredients

• Cinnamon - 1 small piece
• Cardamom - 2 nos
• Cloves - 2 nos
• Bay leaf - 1
• Cream - 1 tblspn
• Curd - 1 tblspn
• Coriander - to garnish
• Chilli powder, Garam masala powder - to garnish (Optional)
• Salt to taste
• Sugar - 1 tsp (Optional)
• green chillies - 2 (Or according to your spice preference)

Method

For Koftas

• Heat some oil in a pan and add the grated cauliflower. Add finely chopped green chillies, salt, chilli powder, garam masala powder and cumin powder. Fry for about 3 to 4 minutes.
• Switch off the flame. Add the boiled,grated potato and mix well. 
• Divide them in to small portions. You should be able to form a ball out of it. If it is not possible, add little cornflour, knead well and make small balls.
• In a small bowl, combine cornflour and milk. The consistency of this mixture should be same as dosa batter. So adjust water accordingly.
• In a pan, heat some oil. Dip the potato cauliflower balls in the milk-conflour mixture and place them on the hot oil in the pan. Keep the flame in medium. Let it cook till it turns golden brown in colour
• Keep flipping the koftas to avoid burning and get even cooking on all the sides. Once done, keep this aside. 
• Alternatively, you can also deep fry the koftas. In that case, you can skip the step 1. You need not cook the cauliflower. Just mix everything and deep fry.

For the white gravy

• Boil water in a vessel and add cashews, almonds, onion, ginger, garlic and melon seeds.
• Let it cook in a slow flame for about 15 to 20 minutes. 
• Cool the mixture and blend it in to a fine paste. Make sure you don't get the chunks of cashews and almonds.Everything should be finely ground

How to Proceed?

• Heat oil in a pan and add bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Fry them till you get a nice aroma. Make sure not to burn the spices. So keep the flame in medium.
• Add the onion cashew mixture, salt, sugar, slit green chillies and let it cook for 10 minutes, stirring it continuously in between. 
• Add whisked curds and cream. Switch off the heat after 1 minute.
• Now the arrangement. Place the koftas in the serving dish. Pour the white gravy on top of it. Garnish it with chilli powder and garam masala, also few coriander leaves.  Do not let the koftas sit in the gravy for long time. So, add the koftas into the gravy only when you are ready to serve.

 

Hows it??????