Zucchini Korma

Blogging Marathon# 63 -Journey through the cuisines: Day 26

State: Tamil Nadu

Dish: Zucchini Korma 

April has come to an end, and with this recipe, we close our month long Mega Marathon that ran from A to Z and with recipes from four Indian states. I started with Gujarat, then came Maharashtra followed by Punjab and finally Tamil Nadu. With a lot of snack recipes to curries, sweets, savories and rice dishes, today brings a hard stop to the event. The letter today is Z and the obvious choice from Z would be zucchini in all cuisines. I am doing Tamil Nadu, so the green colored vegetable made its appearance in a korma. 

Years ago when I was not so connected to food and recipes, I ordered a Vegetable Korma dish at a restaurant as they listed it under curries and I was looking for an alternative to vegetable makhanwala, vegetable kolhapuri and vegetable handi. What appeared was a lightly colored dish and on tasting it we realized it had coconut. I was so stunned to find that as I never expected a curry to have coconut in it! Little did I know that this dish is just written along with the other vegetables, it is actually from a different state and coconut is an essential ingredient in it!

Now with my knowledge much broader, I know what dish will have which ingredient. Not only that, now each of my recipes at home taste different as I understand the importance of coconut, poppy seeds and watermelon seeds in each of the curries. Earlier it would all taste similar with garlic, ginger, onion and tomato in all the curries! 

So coming to the recipe, a Korma (from Turkish kavurma), also spelled kormaa, qorma, khorma, kurma, or qovurma, is a dish originating in South Asia consisting of meat or vegetables braised in a spiced sauce made with yogurt, cream, nut or seed paste. The most famous type of korma is the one with mixed vegetables in it, but adding just zucchini was a great idea too. The gravy was just like any other korma and the zucchini gave a crunch to the dish, with its slightly hard skin and tender flesh. I served it with Malabar Parathas, the flaky ones we can buy off the shelf. Along with that, was a bowl full of Yogurt Rice, a Tamilnadu special and the combination was perfect and we enjoyed a hearty weekend lunch.

Ingredients

Zucchini 2 medium
Onions 1 medium, diced

Tomatoes 1 medium, diced

Cashew nuts 1 handful

Fresh Coconut ¼ cup shredded

Curry Leaves 3-4

Mustard seeds a pinch

Bay leaves 1-2

Green chilli 3-4

Turmeric ½ tsp

Red Chilli Powder 1 tsp

Salt 1 tsp

Oil 2 tbsp

Cilantro

Method

Wash and dice the zucchini and set aside. In a pan heat a tablespoon of oil. Add chopped onions, cook them and then add tomatoes. Also add the cashew nuts and fresh coconut. Let the mixture cook till it becomes mushy.

Turn down the flame and blend to a smooth paste. Set aside. Heat the remaining oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, let them pop and then add curry leaves, bay leaves and green chilli. 

Next, add the zucchini and saute till it becomes little soft. Add the prepared curry, turmeric and red chilli powder. Mix well and cook covered till the gravy and zucchini comes together. 

Turn down the flame, add cilantro and serve warm with Malabar Paratha and onions.