1/2 medium-sized (4 oz/100
1 grammes) aubergine, cut
1 into
1 three-quarter inch by half
1 inch (2 cm x 1 cm sticks)
2 small carrots (4 oz/100 grammes),
1 peeled and cut into
1 three-quarter inch by half
1 inch (2 cm x 1 cm sticks)
4 oz (100 grammes) peas
4 oz (100 grammes) french beans,
1 cut into 1 inch (2 and a
1 half
1 cm) pieces
1 medium-sized potato (4 oz x
100 grammes), peeled and cut
1 into
1 three-quarter inch by half
1 inch (2 cm x 1 cm sticks)
2 oz (50 grammes) fresh grated
1 coconut
4 fresh hot green chillies
2 tbsp white poppy seeds
1 quarter tsp salt
3 medium-sized tomatoes,
1 roughly chopped
1 tbsp natural (plain) yoghurt
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp chopped, fresh green
1 coriander
Directions
Place the aubergine, carrots, peas, French beans and
potato in a medium-sized saucepan. Add 8fl oz (250ml)
water. Bring to the boil. Cover, turn the heat to
medium and cook for four minutes or until the
vegetables are just tender.
Meanwhile put the coconut, chillies, poppy seeds and
salt in an electric blender. Add 5 fluid ounces (150
ml) water and grind to a fine paste. Set aside.
When the vegetables are cooked, add the spice paste
and 5 fluid ounces (150 ml) water. Stir and simmer
gently for five minutes. Add the tomatoes, yoghurt and
garam masala. Stir gently to mix well. Bring to the
boil and simmer gently for 2 - 3 minutes. Turn into a
serving dish and garnish with the fresh coriander.
TIPS
If you wish to substitute unsweetened, desiccated
coconut for fresh coconut use 5 tbsps (1 oz/30
grammes). Barely cover with warm water and leave for
one hour, then proceed with the recipe.
Coriander is the parsley of India. Mix it with
vegetables and chicken, use as a garnish and add the
stems to soup and dals for extra flavour. To keep
coriander fresh, stand sprigs in a glass of water,
cover with a plastic bag and keep in the fridge.
Kurma
Westerners who come to Madras, Tamil Nadu's capital
city, expecting to find meals made with "Madras" curry
powder are in for a surprise. Curry powders
manufactured in this southern Indian city are strictly
for export. Aromatic spices, fennel seeds and fresh
coconut are the ingredients that give the superb
cuisine of Tamil Nadu its flavour and texture.
For this dish, vegetables are "dressed" with a ground
paste of fresh coconut, poppy seeds and green
chillies, which is cooked briefly with the vegetables
so that it is absorbed by them. The dish is best
served with plain rice and you could also serve it as
an accompaniment to a meat dish.
Copyright of the British Broadcasting Corporation
Servings: 4 servings
Kurma Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Beans; Chili; Dessert; French; Fruit
The History of Recipes
Written cooking instructions as a concept can be tracked far back into antiquity, in truth as far into history as ancient Egypt, and maybe even further. In practice though, mostly, these early records were just primitive pictorial instructions for preparing meals.
In an interesting twist, the most ancient recipe found, according to food historians are some tablets in the Sumerian language describing the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making drinkers feel wonderful. Moving our culinary historical trip onwards, we find two interesting recipe books which date from the 1300s ; a cookery book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. The titles are a little misleading though, they have no connection with the indian food that is familiar to us all today, but instead accounts of the types of food on the menus of the nobility of that time. Later on, in the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought back many new spices and herbs from the Middle-East, including spices such as parsley and basil. The introduction of these new tastes was responsible for an outbreak in publications on food, many of which are now in private cookery archives. Over the succeeding few centuries, the powerful and wealthy houses tried to serve up the most exotic meals, and as a result chefs and their recipe collections were at a premium. Notwithstanding that, it was during the 1800s that fine cookery and recipe collections rose to prominence. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the US, devoted much of their lives to assembling, trying out, and recording recipes that were common in the better off homes of the day. The TV revolution gave us celebrity TV chefs and the recipe books that accompanied them. Which brings us neatly up to date and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting everyone to access massive numbers of recipes just like those on sites such as the one you are reading now. |
We hope you enjoy this Kurma recipe.
