First off: Yes, this takes a ton of different ingredients, but don’t freak the fuck out. Most of them are vegetables or spices you SHOULD (I can’t promise anything, but it shouldn’t be hard) to get these at your local grocery store. It’s a lot of things, but small quantities of each.
This is a type of indian vegetable curry. It’s one of those dishes that embodies Indian food, in that it punches you in the face with a combination of savory, sweet, and earthy, and just makes you shovel it in your face.
Navratan korma means “nine gems,” according to wikipedia. The idea is that you use nine different vegetables in the dish and end up with this beautiful mash up of everything. I don’t use that many, but it still came out great.
One note, this dish calls for fried paneer. You need to use a non-stick (or possibly cast iron) pan for this. If you use stainless steel, it doesn’t matter what you do, it will stick horribly and you will have to toss it.
Ingredients
For the curry:
2-3 tomatoes, tops removed, roughly chopped
1/4 cup garlic ginger paste (more to taste) (can substitute equal parts minced garlic and ginger, but that will give a stronger flavor)
1 large onion, chopped
2 teaspoons turmeric, ground
2 teaspoons coriander, ground
1 teaspoon cumin,ground
1 tablespoon garam masala, divided (half to start, half to finish)
2-4 thai green chilis or 1-2 serranos, chopped (optional)
2 teaspoons fenugreek leaves (optional)
2 teaspoons amchoor powder
salt and pepper to taste
ghee or oil as needed
For the vegetables:
1 medium to large carrot, peeled and diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1 cup green beans, end removed, chopped
1 cup peas, either frozen peas or snap peas
2 cup potato, chopped
1 cup water
For the rest:
1 can coconut cream/coconut milk
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup golden raisins (it actually does make a difference between golden raisins and regular. Regular ones will definitely work, but will absolutely work better with the golden ones)
1 package paneer, cut in to cubes
Directions
First off: lets toast the cashews. Pour a generous amount of oil in to a pan (the bottom of the pan should be fully coated in oil) and put it on the stove at medium low heat. Let the oil heat up, and add the cashews. Stir fry them for 10 minutes or so, until they turn golden brown. Do NOT let them sit in the oil, because they will burn quickly. Stir them every minute or so. I found it easiest to do this while chopping vegetables – you know, chop a carrot, stir the damn thing up, chop a pepper, stir it again, kind of thing – but it’s honestly kind of a pain it the ass. I would omit it but this dish is fucking amazing and I’m afraid to deviate from what I did.
Once the cashews are done, remove them from the oil and put them aside to drain. Turn the heat up to medium and add some oil to the pan. Once it’s hot, add the paneer cubes, Fry for 5-10 minutes , NOT TOUCHING BECAUSE YOU WILL FUCK UP THE CRUST, until there is a really good brown crust on the bottom of the cubes, maybe 1/8 inch high. Remove them and add them to the cashews.
Finally: You could do this at any point in the past, but I have to put the steps in order somehow. Boil some salted water and cook the potatoes halfway. Maybe 10 minutes, maybe 15. You want them to be raw in the center so they finish cooking with the rest of the vegetables.
Now things get fun. Heat some oil in a pot, and add the onion and garlic ginger paste. stir fry for 5-10 minutes until the onions are golden, then add the tomatoes, turmeric, coriander, cumin, half the garam masala, and the optional chilis to the pot, and stir thoroughly, and cover. Stir every minute or so, because all the ground spices will tend to form a paste that will burn easily, and you want to mix the tomato sauce in to them to prevent that. If it really starts to burn, add 1/4 cup of water and cover again.
Once the tomatoes break down (should take about 15 -20 minutes at medium heat, if they’re covered), add the vegetables, the cup of water, and the half-cooked potatoes to the pot, and cover again. Stir occasionally (every 5 minutes or so) until the vegetables are cooked through.
Add the coconut cream/milk, raisins, cashews, and fried paneer, Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer for 10-20 minutes, then remove from the heat. Stir in the fenugreek, amchoor, and the rest of the garam masala, and maybe another handful of raisins. Let sit for 5-10 minutes off the heat to meld. Serve with rice or naan or just shove it in your face.
eatbensmeat 