Vegetable Kurma and Methi Puri/Poori

This is Avi's recipe and I stole his secret recipe paper to surprise him at dinner with his perfect yummy mixed veggie kurma. It is so healthy with loads of vegetables and so flavorful with loads of spices and herbs. Yes, he did love it  and took another serving. My contribution to the recipe? I added some sweet grapes to garnish to give the spicy dish a tinch of sweetness.

Normally, kurma is had with rotis, parathas, aappam or rice. I wanted something special to go for this surprise dinner. Puris as such do not have any special flavor in them and are pretty insipid. So I decided to make puris that are flavorful and can be had without any side dish at all. I wanted a flavor that was not in the kurma  and kurma  does have pretty much most of the Indian spices in the ground paste. I decided on methi puris with a pinch of ajwain powder.  Both of these ingredients have distinct flavors and you cannot miss them. The kurma didn't have both of these ingredients and it worked perfectly for me.


Kurma

Ingredients:-

1.5 cups of chopped veggies (potatoes, carrots, french beans and capsicum)
1 large tomato chopped finely
1 bay leaf
1 medium sized onion chopped
1/4 cup of coconut milk
handful of sweet grapes to garnish
few chopped coriander to garnish
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
salt to taste

Gravy to be ground:-
1/3 cup of grated coconut
1 inch of cinnamon
2 cloves
3 green chillies
1 red chilli
1 tsp of cumin seeds/ jeera
1/2 tsp of aniseed/ saunf
5 whole cashews
1/2 tsp of poppy seeds
2 cardamom/elaichi
1 inch of fresh ginger
1/4 cup of chopped onions

Method:-
Heat the oil in a pan and add the bay leaf and onions. Fry till the onions turn pink.
Add the tomato and fry for a minute. keep the flame at medium heat.
Add the veggies with the turmeric powder and salt. Fry for about 2 mins. Toss the veggies so that they don't burn. Grind the masala paste mean while and keep aside
Add 2/3rds cup of water and cook closed for about 3 -5 mins until the veggies get soft.Stir once in a while so that the veggies do not burn.
Add the masala and cook for a min in slow flame. Stir frequently.
Add the coconut milk and cook in low flame for a min.
Garnish with coriander and grapes.

Methi Puri/ Poori

Ingredients:-
2 cups of whole wheat flour.
1 tsp of salt
1 tbl spn of oil.
1/4th of dried crushed fenugreek leaves/ Kasoori Methi
pinch of ajwain powder/ carom seeds powder
enough warm water
Oil to deep fry

Method:-
Knead the dough with salt, ajwain powder, dried fenugreek leaves and water until tight and smooth. Add the oil at the end and kneed until the crumbs come together.
Heat the oil at high.
Make  round balls each with diameter of 1 inch. Use some flour for dusting and roll the dough into a circle with diameter of 3 inches with a rolling pin.
Deep fry the puris one by one.
Slowly slide a puri into the oil. It should immediately sink a little and them rise up quickly. if not, you need to heat the oil more.
Pressing the center of puri down lightly with a slotted spatula and then press lightly the circumference. This enables the puri to puff up.
Turn the puri and take it out when it gets golden brown on both sides. The whole process takes less that 30 seconds to fry one puri.