Nawabi Curry

Event: Blogging Marathon #41
Theme: Stove-top cooking with alphabets - N, P & T

The Mughal rule had a great impact on India in all quarters and naturally the Indian cuisine too evolved in the process, giving birth to one of the lavish and popular cuisines of the country. The cuisine developed in the imperial kitchens of the Mughal rulers came to be known as the Mughalai cuisine and used rich dry fruits, nuts, exotic fresh fruits and the expensive saffron as part of their cooking. A wide variety of pilafs, kebabs, rich-creamy gravies and luxurious desserts are a part of it's repertoire and are popular to this day in the Indian subcontinent. Over the centuries, the rich, aromatic and delicious Mughali food has become a part and parcel of Indian life and it has enhanced the already rich Indian culinary heritage.

While looking for some quick and easy nawabi recipes, I ended up here. This curry is supposedly from the Mughal era and as the name suggests, it is a curry fit for imperial kitchens. The cashew nuts, almonds, coconut and poppy seeds give a luxurious base to this mild and yummy curry. It was a curry meant for royals / the nawabs once upon a time, going by the ingredients used and the rich and creamy dish one ends up with. Though the ingredients are now in reach for even the commoners, it is the kind one would like to have when one is in self indulgent mood or in company.

Ingredients:
1 cup mixed vegetables (I used potato, carrot, green peas and beans)
2 - 3 tbsp oil
2 small tomatoes
Salt to taste
A pinch of saffron strands soaked in 1 tsp of warm milk
To grind:
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp cashews
1 tbsp almonds
1 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp fresh, shredded coconut
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp chopped green chillies
4 Kashmiri red chillies
1 inch piece of ginger
1 - 2 cardamom
2 cloves
1 inch piece of cinnamon
1 stalk of curry leaves

Method:
* Peel and cube potato and carrot. Cut beans into 1/4 inch pieces. Add water and cook the vegetables in either a pressure cooker or in a microwave. 
* Grind fine all the ingredients mentioned under "to grind" adding water as needed.
* Heat oil in a pan, preferably a nonstick one. Add the ground paste and cook until the oil starts to leave he sides or until the raw smell of the onion leaves.
* In the meantime, cut tomatoes into chunks and cook in a microwave. Let cool, peel the skins and puree the tomatoes. Pass it through a strainer and add the filtered puree to the fried paste in the above step. Add the cooked vegetables, saffron and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and turn off the stove.
* Serve it with parathas or pooris.

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