Navratan Korma

Glossary
Korma - Thick saucy dish which is finished with yogurt or heavy cream
Paneer - Indian Cheese in this preparation it is lightly fried before it is added to the mix. somehow it stayed solid through the frying and the stewing
Mawa or milk solids - I don't know what this is, we found it frozen with the paneer in an Indian grocery store the recipe didn't contain and directions how to prepare it so I just chopped it roughly, it sort of melts into the sauce
Navratan - Nine Gems this is a lucky number featured in lots of jewelry like:

Image borrowed from www.shahji.com 

We're going to try to make my sister's favorite Indian dish. I secretly figured this out by asking her what her favorite Indian dish is... no suspicions aroused.

I knew from the start that making Navratan Korma is going to be a hard sell... it's not exactly the most healthy Indian dish. The recipe I found is purported to be of the Royal Court of the Mughals. The variety of textures, flavors and the luscious gravy of this dish make it a real joy to eat and look at. I made a few small changes to the original increasing the amount of vegetables and omitting the almonds. Half-and-Half was substituted for cream as well.

1 T ground spice mix: 1 T (2 bay leaves, 3 green cardamom pods, 1/2 cinnamon stick, pinch mace, pinch cloves and pinch nutmeg, Toast them in a dry pan then grind them to a fine spice mix)

2 cups total of potatoes, carrots, cauliflower florets and green peas all cut into small cubes. (Well, except for the peas, of course.) Almost any vegetable can be substitutes or added to this list.

1/2 cup cubed paneer
1 Tb ghee
1 Tb Ginger paste
1 Tb Tomato paste with water added to become liquid
1 teas cumin
1 teas cayenne
1/2 cup cubed Pineapple
1/2 cup cubed Dry "fruits" A mix of raisins, almonds and walnuts
2 Tb Cashew nut paste (made by blending cashews with water)
1 Tb Pomegranates seeds
1/2 cup Mawa or milk solids : 1/2 cup (75g)
1 cup Milk
1 Tb Half and half
1/2 teas salt (or to taste)

Warm the Ghee in the pan and add the ground spices. When they are sizzling, add the paneer to lightly color, this will make them hold their shape in the final product. When the paneer is lightly browned, remove them from the oil and add in your 2 cups of vegetables. Cook on high until they get a little browned.

Next add the ginger paste and allow it to become fragrant and add the tomato paste, mix so that it coats all of the vegetables and allow it to brown lightly.

Add the cumin and cayenne to the mostly dry mixture, this should make it fairly spicy, more cayenne can be added if you want more heat.

Add the cashew nut paste and allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes. taste and salt well.

Roughly chop the Mawa and add it with the pineapple chunks sauté for several minutes until the mawa is blended in.

Add the milk and simmer on low covered until the vegetables are soft.

Add the paneer, allow them to heat through and finish with half and half, if the dish is too dry add a little more milk or water.

Serve over a bed of hot rice and garnish with the cilantro and pomegranate seeds. Those cool bursts are a real gem!  Yuk Yuk Yuk.

-Nom

(I forgot to add the ground spice mix at the beginning and I didn't want to add it into the simmering broth so I took advantage of another Indian technique called baghar which involves heating a little bit of oil in a pan and simmering the spices, to a extract all of their flavors, then this oil with all it's spices is added to finish a dish. It worked out very well in this dish, though I can't help thinking it might have been even better if I had done it correctly!)

"If I could never eat meat again, but I could eat this dish every single day, I would be happy" - Max