Tuesday, February 22, 2011

korma rice

A big apologise from me as i was irregular and unable to blog and visit my blogger friends daily, as here in australia summer season was on ,unlike all the other countries, where they r hiding from snow falls and cold winds.My daughter was having long summer vacation for about 2 mths which  now came to an end  for good ;) ...trust me she is a big monkey i would say,she drives me crazy when she is at home all the time ,i was going nuts and moreover my laptop was going for a toss ,its completely crashed now and i am hunting for a new one.I wud be glad if anyone can  advice me for buying a new laptop...toshiba,hp,dell,lenovo,,asus,sony vayo,samsung..etc..etc..which one wud b better in all means.??..my previous one was Hp and it was my companion from the last 31/2-4 yrs so just confused wether i shud buy the same or some other will be better ...?? .Neways its been more than a month i posted any recipe as my hubby's laptop is not for a personal use,it is provided by office and he really didnt wanted  me to use it for hours and continue blogging , i  was  only checking my mails and sometimes facebooking  ,usually he is busy with his laptop even after office hours and so i hardly get it free to use it but today he had gone outskirts of melbourne to attend a clients party and i literally made full use of his laptop with ofcourse by his permission :) and sat for a couple of hrs after a month or so and had an oppturnity to  post this much delayed dish which i eagerly wanted to post since long.I am so happy to post recipe after a month and will oon continue blogging as soon as i get a new laptop.Coming towards today's recipe,iam posting korma rice  which my friend mamta (deshmukh) made for us when i came back from india and  after settling down in few days i heard this recipe from her on phone and little bit i added my own flavours and style to set this beautiful dish.It was just too filling and delicious on its own,no side dish is required with this heavy,creamy,vegetable -full of dish.I can say it was a complete one- pot -meal types.Thank u so much dear for sharing this dish with me.



approx for 3-4 ppl
ingredients :
2 cups basmati rice
2 cups mix boiled veggies ,bite size(cauliflower,potatoes,peas,french beans,capsicum)
2 tbsp fried paneer cubes ( optional )
3/4-1 cup fresh cream
salt to taste
1 tsp red chilli pwd ( add more or less acc to ur taste )
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd
1-2 tsp garam masala
1-2 cloves
1 cardomon
1 small stick of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp tomato paste
to grind :
1 large or 2 medium sized onions
2-3 garlic cloves
1 small piece ginger
for korma paste :
21/2 tbsp cashew nuts
2 tbsp poppy seeds / khuskhus
method :
Cook rice and take care not to overcook it,all the grains should be seperated enough ,spread the cooked rice in a flat dish or thali to prevent sticking to each other and let it cool down completely.
Soak cashews and poppy seeds for an hour and grind into a thick paste and keep it aside.
Grind onions,garlic and ginger into a paste .Heat oil ,add bay leaves,cloves,cardomons,cinnamon and saute ground onion paste till transparent.Add tomato paste and fry till it leaves oil from the sides.
Pour the cashewnut paste and fry continuosly till the pan/kadhai  leaves oil .
Add boiled veggies ,paneer,salt,turmeric,red chilli pwd,garam masala and mix well.Add the cream  and mix everything together nicely so that the vegetables are fully coverd with ground paste and cream.
Simmer it for a while and start layering the korma rice.
For layering or setting the dish :
Take a baking dish,spread half of the rice evenly on a level then top it with half of the vegetable korma in the same manner,again top it with the left over rice and finally spread the other half of korma gravy and bake it in a preheated oven for 8-10 mins at 200c.
pls note :
The pictures above are before baking and was not able to take the pics after baking as my guests had come,i layered and kept ready and had  baked when they were about to eat rice so that it was piping hot and not lost its flavour and aroma.
You can adjust the quantitiy of cream to make the gravy / korma in pouring consistency or to avoid more cream can use little water .
Actually i was short of gravy so you can see in the 3rd pic,i have not spreaded it completely (only in the centre )and not in level but the top layer should be evenly and fully covered with gravy.
Also you can cover the dish with aluminium foil while baking to avoid the crispyness of top layer ,and i preferably didnt cover as i love that top baked crust very much :)