Chole with Vegetable Korma

Monday, October 21

Chole with Vegetable Korma

Rating: 4.25

I had half a can of coconut milk in the fridge that needed to be used up, so I decided to make a veggie korma. I love recipe in The Indian Vegan Kitchen for this dish, although the title of it calls it Creamy Vegetable Stew. Korma is usually made with heavy cream, but the small amount (1/2 cup) of coconut milk give it the same creamy texture without making it taste too coconut-y. You also make a paste of onions, garlic, chilies, ginger, and cashews, which adds to the thickness. I usually follow the recipe for the vegetables used, but you could probably swap out whichever ones you like or don’t like. I put a little less cauliflower in it, because it’s really not our favorite, but it’s good in this. Despite the coconut milk, this is actually a pretty light dish, so I like to serve it as a side over basmati rice.

I wanted to make a bean dish to go with the korma, so I looked through the beans and legumes section of the same book and found a recipe called “Spicy Blackened Chickpeas”, which is a recipe for chole, a kind of chickpea stew. I was intrigued because it calls for you to make a cup of strong tea to simmer the stew in. It turned out good, but more dry than I expected. I don’t think my chickpeas were quite as well done/soft as they needed to be when I started. I reduced the amount of tamarind paste I used since it’s not Seth’s favorite flavor in the world and I was worried it was too bland when I tasted it in the pan. Once it cooled and the flavors melded a bit, it was quite good and not bland at all. We always plate our food in the kitchen rather than serving “family style”, so I garnished both plates with the sliced tomato and red onion recommended and I’m really glad I did – it was delicious. We served some garlic naan (Vegan Eats World) that I had in the freezer. I won’t continue to wax poetic about how good the naan recipe is, but I will say this: buy the book, if for no other reason than to have that recipe.