Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Vegetable Korma to Inspire our Dreams
What did I say yesterday about hoping to feel fresh and reinvigorated today? Whatever it was, my hopes were dashed by the reality of the day. The weekend is long over, but I felt like it had only just begun. For some strange reason I was walking around all day thinking it was Friday. Too much relaxation? Or the delayed after effect of an overdose of German bread? Or maybe I'm just not made for working life. It's been a year this week since I started in my job here in Dublin and getting up in the morning has got no easier. Why do we do this to ourselves? Too many of us spend the best years of our lives doing something we do not much enjoy at a time we are barely awake. But maybe this is done on purpose because if we were thinking straight we'd change it all. Who knows...One thing is for sure though, lofty and I will not be living like this forever. We have a dream. A big dream of going to India for a while. But that is a project for the distant future, so at the moment all we have to inspire our imagination is Indian food. Or at least my interpretation thereof. I know that what we get served as Indian food in restaurants in Europe probably has very little resemblance to what they actually eat on the sub-continent, but if we like it and if it teaches us to be open towards foreign cultures and cuisines, I am more than happy with it. And while I at times doubt my own ability to recreate things I have eaten in restaurants, tonight I was more than pleased with the result. I think the clue lay in the spices. I used to use relatively small amounts of the strongly flavoured specimens such as cumin and ginger because I was afraid of it turning out overpowering. Then I did some research on the subject and realised that, unless you have ultra-fresh spices and grind them yourself just before you start cooking, you will have a hard time making a tasty curry and no chance whatsoever to produce anything so flavoursome it becomes unbearable. So I decided to be adventurous and simply go by my feeling of what's right - with great results.
For the korma:
2 tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
spice mix (see recipe below)
1 tsp tomato purée
2 tsp brown sugar
75 g chopped tomatoes
150 ml vegetable stock
3 large handfuls of vegetables (such as green beans, carrots, parboiled potatoes, broccoli and mushrooms), cut into large chunks
1 small can (165ml) coconut milk
75g ground almonds
salt and pepper to taste
a good pinch garam masala
For the spice mix:
1½ tbsp powdered ginger
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground green cardamom seeds
2 fresh bay leaves
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves
a pinch of chilli powder or cayenne pepper
Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium low heat. Add the onion, cover and fry until golden brown. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes, but be patient and let the onions brown, it is well worth the wait. Add the spice mix and continue frying, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and mix well before stirring in the sugar, chopped tomatoes, the liquid part of the coconut milk (reserve the creamy top layer for later) and the stock. Bring to a simmer.
Add the vegetables in order of their cooking time. In total, they will be in the pan about 20 minutes. A good rule of thumb is that when the potatoes are cooked, so should be the rest of your vegetables. Cook until reduced to the consistency of thick cream. Now stir in the coconut cream and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Finally, add the ground almonds and garam masala and cook for a further minute or two to let the flavours mix and the sauce thicken slightly more. Serve with rice or Indian bread, such as chapatti or naan.
Christine at 9:26 pm
