This Chicken curry recipe is from Mr. Parveez’s family. I was given the recipe by my Mother in law. The dish uses a variety of veggies, which honestly at times makes it difficult to make because if you miss out on one, it changes the whole taste. From the stories I hear of Mr. Parveez’s childhood, this dish was cooked almost every Friday and he would always look forward to his mom making it. I believe even today when he eats this Korma, it makes his mind go down the memory lane and remember the awesome dishes his mom made.
Now Bangalore is the garden city of India. The city with loads of greenery and always has an availability of fresh flowers and vegetables, therefore most dishes that you look at comprises of fresh vegetables and other ingredients. those dishes necessarily do not have to be under the category of “vegetarian food”, even the non vegetarian dishes, cooked in most almost all Muslim families use a lot of vegetables with their meat/chicken as well. Initially I wasn’t too big of a fan to be very honest. Coming from Rajasthan, I wasn’t used to mixing up vegetables and meat. We, in Rajasthan prefer keeping them separate, but with time I started enjoying the flavors of the veggies more and understood that this is one of the best ways to incorporate more vegetables in your diet as well.
I got the recipe of this dish from my Sister in law after I became the member of the new family. In fact most of the recipes that I learnt from Mr. Parveez’s family were given to me by my third sister in law. This dish can be made with meat or chicken so feel free to switch the chicken with Lamb/Goat meat. You will have to cook longer though and also make sure that you add the vegetables only after the meat is properly cooked. Chicken takes less time, so adding the veggies quickly is fine.
The chicken is cooked with Potatoes, Bell Peppers, Fenugreek/ Methi leaves, Lima beans and dill leaves. You can always substitute Lima beans with peas if you want. While coming across Turkish, mainly Middle Eastern Cuisine I did learn that most meat/ chicken curries are cooked with a variety of vegetables. That makes me think that this dish is also influenced from the Mughal Era, not something they learnt from the Indian soil, but something that they taught Indian cuisine. Because, coming to think of it, if you analyze most Non vegetarian Indian/ Pakistani dishes, you will know that they exclude vegetables. I would love to cook this Korma in one of the Turkish Earthen pots some day.
Usually this Korma is served alongside Rice dish called Khushka, which is Rice cooked with Mint leaves. You can also serve this Korma with Parantha, Naan or Sheermal.
Coorg is a beautiful hill station in Karnataka. We visited Coorg in 2015 and the place just doesn’t have amazing scenic views, it also has one of the most beautiful Monastery that we have ever visited.
Coorg serves wonderful coffee as well. Coorg has many coffee plantations and it offers coffee powder that is spiced up with cinnamon powder and cloves powder.
During our visit, we tried Biryani at our resort and it was delicious and different. Though the resort chef did not share the recipe of his delicious Biryani, but with little research about the history of Coorg, I was able to discover the secret to their wonderful Biryani.
The chapters of history of Coorg took me to the wonerful era of The Great “Tipu Sultan”. The history shows that he was a big fan of delicious food and loved variety of different cuisines. While visiting his summer palace and museums and seeking details of his lifestyle, one discovers that he was a super wonderful host too, who loved to serve his guests, not just variety of food, but also food in beautiful China and silverware. I believe this explains Mr. Parveez’s love and interest in The Great Tipu Sultan. My hubby is a big fan of Mughal King Akbar and Tipu Sultan and the only common thing between them and him, besides having wonderful wives, is their love for great food.
Keeping that flavor alive from the era of Great Tipu Sultan, I tried making this Biryani as close to how the original recipe must have been. I found a few wonderful stories of the spices and cooking methods that King Tipu Sultan used. This recipe is following the same methods.
You are always welcome to make changes and to contact me if you’d like to have substitutes for the ingredients.
South Indian food has so many varieties with their chutneys. Coconut chutney, Peanut chutney, Roasted chana chutney, not forgetting the common chutneys with North India like the coriander chutney, green chili chutney and Mint chutney.
Coconut Chutney tastes awesome with Rice idlis and Sambhar. The spice of the sambhar is mellowed down by the coconut chutney and brings out wonderful flavors.
We love curries and specially curries that aren’t made commonly. One such curry is Beetroot. While growing up, Beetroot only made it to our salads, with time I found that people even make pickles out of Beetroot. And, then after I got married, I found that its a pretty popular curry in my new home.
Like all vegetable curries, Beetroot also has loads of unique ways of being cooked. My MIL makes her Beetroot by cooking it with spices and coconut puree, which is amazingly delicious as well. I still remember when Mr. Parveez told me one of his childhood stories about Beetroot. As a kid, he would sometimes take this curry to school and since Beetroot left a little red color on his tongue and he would run around telling his school mates that he had blood for lunch…LOLzzz. Childhood is the best life we live and the memories are so fond and extremely special. The most fascinating part is us remembering everything by looking at things around us….I always love sharing these little stories, after all, every food has a story.
This recipe is one of my experiments with both my favorite veggies, Beetroot and Bell pepper.
