Thursday, November 22, 2007

On The Gravy Train

There was gravy drain too, but more about that in the next post!



As I found out, this is another great pantry cleaner – take some odds and ends, vegetably speaking, dress up some coconut milk and you have a great curry. I had some potatoes that were sprouting; sweet potatoes, all twisty and runt-like to begin with that steadily shrivelled with each passing day; a portion of the cauliflower that I had used the greater part of in the gravy drain and some beans.

Now, all I needed was some carrot to give it a bit of colour but seeing as some had gone to pot in my fridge last week, I denied myself any in penance this week! As I debated using the sweet potatoes, Musical’s Thai Curry came back to me – I had wondered about the combination with coconut milk, so this was the perfect occasion to try it. It’s an unusual taste – sweet, sour and mellow all at once. The gravy itself is like silk. And Bee has posted another dish with some of the same ingredients today.

This recipe is adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor’s Khazana of Indian Recipes. This is another entry of mine for the Grindless Gravies event.

Potatoes, peeled, diced into 1-inch cubes: 3 small
French beans, cut into 1-inch pieces: 12-15
Cauliflower: ¼ of a flower
Sweet potatoes, peeled, diced: 1 cup
Shelled green peas: ½ cup

Coconut milk: 200 ml (mine came out of a pack)
Tamarind pulp: 2 tbspn (about three dry strips soaked in half a cup of water)
Red chilli powder: ½-1 tsp
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tbspn
Turmeric: ½-1 tspn
Ginger-garlic paste: 1 tbspn
Salt: To taste

Oil: 1 tsp
Mustard seed: 1 tsp
Split, hulled black gram/urad dal: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: 8-10
Dried red chillies: 2

You will need thin coconut milk to cook the veggies – I diluted about a third of the coconut milk with 1-1/2 cups of water.

In a pressure cooker, or a pan, boil vegetables with salt, tamarind extract and thin coconut milk till ¾ done. (In a pressure cooker, this took about three minutes before the weight needs to be put on.)

As that’s cooking, mix the ginger-garlic paste with the cumin, coriander and red chilli powder.

Now, add this to the vegetables and cook for ten minutes. (In a pressure cooker, this could take about 2-3 whistles. Let the pressure drop on its own before you open the cooker.)

Heat the oil, pop the mustard, black gram and the red chillies. Add curry leaves and add this to the curry.

Now add the thick coconut milk and simmer for two or three minutes. You can eat it on its own or with some rice.

Hope you've all put your thinking caps on for Grindless Gravies. The deadline is December 22, that's a whole month more!

24 comments:

  1. It looks so delicious. I too have some great fridge cleaners - end of week meals before the visits to the markets on the weekend. I will add this to the list.

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  2. Lovely! Another yummy combo with my favorite ingredients! Cauliflower would have tasted divine in this gravy. Now i am wondering if i should have submitted my dish for grindless gravies :). I kept wondering because coconut milk actually would require grinding coconut, if i were to make it from scratch. But i'll make another one :).

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  3. wondeful. i still haven't been able to come up with a grindless gravy sans dal or yogurt.

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  4. To me it sounds like an easy approach to making Kurma in pressure cooker; instead of tamarind, i add tomatoes...an express entry :)

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  5. aha, so you didn't add coconut milk to the banned item list ;) And the deadline is dec 22nd? that is great, I will come back and send you something...
    The dish looks delicious. I love the taste of sweet potatoes in coconut milk, it is a nice treat

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  6. haha.. love the title. i am trying to cook up something for this event.. will do soon :)

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  7. Vegeyum, thanks.
    Musical, well, as long as you can use some stored or pre-processed stuff, I don't mind. I just meant that we shouldn't have to grind it then and there.
    Bee, I'm sure you'll come up with a winner.
    Shn, Yes, soaking tamarind does take a little time, but the taste is quite different from kurma. No cardamoms or cloves in this.
    Sig, no, haven't banned coconut milk but I did combine other stuff with it to make a gravy - that's important, not just coconut milk with vegetables. I want a complex gravy made easily, I suppose. ;-)
    Nags, thank you. Looking forward to your entry.

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  8. wow thats just excellent sra :)

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  9. Looks very nice SRA..will book mark this...for future!!

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  10. After the great success I had with your paneer makhmani, Sra, you know I'm going to make this. I just bought a jar of Kapoor's turnip and cauliflower pickle - love it.

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  11. I love dishes that use up soggy fridge vegetables! I did a post today about a Thai Green Curry Soup which is similar but yours sounds a lot more interesting!!

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  12. sra..that looks spicy and good..actually i have made another gravy dish..which i should hopefully type out soon...

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  13. With al the event i can't keep up, but will send u something as there is still time.
    Love the dish.

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  14. Gosh, I am still wondering on what I want to send!!!!

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  15. nice gravy! i guess, will be seeing a lot of coconut milk based gravies...;)

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  16. Yum, yum, yum!

    Paz

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  17. Man, this dish has a little bit of everything huh? :)

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  18. All veg together in a coconut based gravy.. Yum!! nice way to get over with those left over few veggis!!

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  19. Just one word, Sra --

    YUM :)

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  20. Roopa, thanks
    Raks, thanks
    Susan, that sounds interesting - I've never seen anything but his shows and his books
    Freya & Paul, welcome back! Will check out your post now.
    Rajitha, great, will keep my fingers crossed
    Happy Cook, take your time, it's until Dec 22. Thanks
    Rachel, exercise those grey cells a little more :)
    Richa, your comment inspires me to do a non-coconut milk curry next
    Paz, :)
    Cynthia, {to the music} a li'l bit of everything in mah life ...
    Seema, you bet!
    Linda, :)

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  21. Looks yummy! I am happy that there is still lot of time to cook and post for the event! I generally get to know about the events very late! :D

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  22. That is an interesting combination of ingredients. Good looking gravy:)
    I have just sent you an e-mail. Please check your spam folder;-)

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  23. Thats really delicious..coconut milk does add a distictive flavour..

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  24. I am a big fan of coconut milk and sometimes just chop some veggies and cook in the Thai coconut milk I get from Chinatown. Bumped into your Blog from BongMom's. Am glad I did.

    Love the title of posts. Witty pretty!

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