Pattani Korma:

Urulai Pattani Korma. Potato-Peas Korma.

When I was studying +1, +2…my school bus experience was fun-filled experience. It used to last for 45 minutes to an hour of long twisted travel, before we reach school…which was only some 12 kilometers from my home! Most of the time, my tiffin box will be emptied by bunch of friends of mine, early in the morning! So…it became a duty for my friend Sathya Devi to feed me!(Who used to go home for lunch)…gosh she used to rush home, finish up fast, freshen up and box me her home-meals. One great thing about her food is…it comes ‘steaming hot’!

Well…I always liked her mommy’s food, in particular this Pattani Korma was ultimate. Wow…still remember those ‘Steaming Hot Korma with Steaming Hot Rice’!

Ingredients:

Potato large 2
Dry yellow whole Peas 1 cup(soaked overnight)
Onion 2 large chopped
Tomato 2 large chopped
Fresh ginger-garlic paste 2-3 spoons
Green chilies 6 slitted
Cas cas/poppy seeds 2 spoons
Fresh Coconut 1/2 a nut
Cinnamon sticks 3
Cloves 3-5
Fennel seeds 2 spoons
Turmeric powder 1/2 spoon
Curry leaves few
Coriander leaves finely chopped 1 cup
Oil 1/2 cup.

Method:

Pressure cook soaked dry-yellow peas till tender. Add little salt before cooking.
Now mash 50% of the peas and retain intact other 50%.

In a microwave/stove top….boil peeled potato chunks. Mash a little and leave them bit chunky as well.

In a large non-stick deep bottomed pan, heat oil. Add cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds to this. Fry them for a while.

Add green chilies to this. Let them splutter well. Then add onions and fry for a while.

Now add ginger-garlic paste to this and fry till the raw smell leaves. Try to maintain the stove over medium heat during this whole process.

Further add tomatoes, salt and turmeric to this. Add potatoes and peas now. Cover and cook for a while. Maybe one can add 1 cup of water and cook for 3-5 minutes.

In a separate pan roast the poppy seeds. Over medium heat. Don’t roast till they turn color. Just roast them for a while. Remove them from heat, when it is still white in color.

Powder the poppy seeds in a blender and set aside.

Now remove the coconut from the shell. Scrape down its thin brown layer, using a peeler/knife. Chop them into tiny bits and wet grind them in a blender. Maybe using limited water. Set aside this coconut paste.(If the coconut is too hard and ripe….extract only its milk)

To the above korma add this poppy seeds powder and coconut paste. Bring this to boil and let the gravy consolidate.

Garnish them with crisply fried curry leaves and finely chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Idly, Dosa, Appam, Iddiappam, Pulka roti or chappathis.