Paneer Navratan Korma : Nine Jewels in Creamy White Gravy

Our festival season has just begun in India. And it started this week only with the celebration of Ganeshotsav. So I declared this week as vegetarian week for my family. No, nothing serious about it, I just don’t want to waste the precious time by cooking meat as it takes much longer time than veg items. Infact I have a better utilization of that time i.e. pandal hopping or spending time in cultural programs 😀

As I’m a hard core non-vegetarian, when it comes to veg items I find myself in a complete mess. And now I have to live on it for next 5/6 days. I know many of you will be surprised by my lack of knowledge in veggies. But are you suggesting me to have bottle gourd or bitter gourd or mixed veg?? Hell Noooo… Its festive time friends, Remember?? I want special items. Strictly.

After spending some ‘quality time’ on internet I actually found a very interesting and royal recipe at the same time. Okay, now I guess it’s an open secret that I’m very much in love of Mughal Gharana. I can’t help it actually. Simply in love with the rich tastes of it.

My today’s pick is a very popular dish amongst North Indians. This exotic Mughalai cuisine inspired preparation is known as ‘Navaratan Korma/Khurma/kurma’. ‘Navaratan’ means nine jewels and ‘Korma/Khurma/kurma’ means a silky buttery sauce which is very smooth in texture. Here is the recipe of it.

Ingredients:

It’s a huge list of items. I keep remembering them as well as keep forgetting them. so I thought it will be helpful if I make small lists according to the usage and mention the names.

Veggies:

Onions: 1, large

Carrot: 1, medium

Potato: 1, large

Capsicum: 1, large

Tomato: 1, medium

Paneer: 200 gms

Fresh green and red chillies: handful

Green peas: 1 cup

Sweet corn: 1 cup

Spices:

Ginger paste: 1 tsp

Garlic paste: 1 tsp (optional)

Cumin powder: 1 tsp

Coriander powder: 1 tsp

Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

Black pepper powder: ½ tsp

White pepper powder: ½ tsp

Garam masala powder: 1 tsp

Salt to taste

For tempering oil:

Ghee/clarified butter: 2 tbsp (ideally this preparation should be cooked in Ghee only; if you want to avoid unnecessary fat, use vegetable oil)

Asafetida/ hing: 1 pinch

Bay leaves: 2

Dried ginger: 1/2“

Peppercorn: ½ tsp

Cinnamon stick: 1”

Green cardamom: 5-6

Black cardamom: 1

Shah jeera: 1 tsp

Cloves: 5-6

Other ingredients:

Milk: 1½ cups

Almonds: handful

Cashew nuts: handful

Raisins: handful

Saffron: few strands soaked in warm milk (optional; if you like the white gravy more, skip this)

Remember there should not be any turmeric at all.

Preparation:

At the beginning finish all chopping and dicing programs. It will help you to run the procedure smoothly at the end.

Dice the onions, potato, carrot, capsicum and keep them in separate bowls.

Roughly chop the tomatoes and chillies. Keep the green chillies aside and make a paste of red chillies and tomatoes. Don’t add any water at all.

Make rectangle bite size pieces of paneer.

Grind most of the almonds into powder and add little water to make a dry paste.

Dry roast all the nuts and reserve for later usage.

Keep the milk warm.

Take a large wok. Make sure it’s enough for the veggies and other ingredients to fit in it. After all you need to cook the entire preparation in this same vessel.

Heat 1 tbsp of ghee/oil in that wok. Add all the ingredients under ‘For tempering oil’. Allow them to crackle.

Add onion and sauté on medium flame.

Add chopped chillies along with ginger paste and garlic paste (if using any). Fry until onions become translucent.

Add cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder and sauté for few more mins.

Add potato and carrot. Mix well.

Also add black pepper powder, white pepper powder, salt.

Mix well and keep it covered on medium flame until veggies are tender yet firm.

After 7-12 mins veggies will be almost done. At this point add capsicum and continue stir frying.

In a separate nonstick pan heat rest of the ghee and stir fry the paneer pieces. Be careful not to burn them (like me)

When you can’t smell the rawness of capsicum, add milk to the first wok and increase the flame.

Once you notice bubbles near edges of the wok add saffron-milk, green peas and sweet corns.

Now let it boil. Keep stirring time to time.

Once the liquid is reduced by little, add almond paste and mix well continuously. Otherwise the gravy will start sticking to the bottom.

Once the gravy starts boiling add paneer and let it simmer with cover on low flame.

Check the seasoning and adjust according to your taste.

When the gravy will reach your desired consistency, turn off the flame and transfer the entire thing into the serving bowl immediately to avoid over cooking.