White Kurma/Qorma (Aromatic Vegetable Stew)
Kurma (Korma or Qorma) is a fragrant stew enriched with aromatic spices, nuts and poppy seeds. It is a full flavored and rich tasting curry with all the roasted spices, nuts, coconut, etc and is typically on the mild side. This classic kurma from Chettinad cuisine is known as White (Vellai in Tamil) Kuruma as the veggies and the gravy remain whitish as there are no tomatoes and barely a pinch of turmeric. It is delicious served with rotis or rice dishes, and also dosas, adai, etc. White kurma uses Indian cinnamon bark which has a slightly different flavor compared to the commonly used cinnamon sticks. Use cinnamon bark for the authentic flavor but if it is not handy, regular cinnamon stick will do quite nicely. Typical Chettinad Kuruma does include garlic; so if you like garlic, saute a couple of cloves of it along with the spices and proceed as per the masala instructions. I use a Serrano or Jalapeño chile and remove the core with the seeds and whitish parts so that you...