Vellai kurma, white kurma, a south Indian vegetable side dish. Coconut based white masala for a flavorful dish that goes well with chapathi, puri, idli or dosa.
Every time I make my regular mixed veg kurma, I would think I should try something different. White kurma, the name itself is very tempting and wanted to try for idiyappam mainly.
But had no clue how to make it. I got several requests now to post vellai kurma. So thought I should try making it.
Jump to:
I adapted this recipe from a video. I am back from my India trip, 3 weeks of time flew away just like that. Lots of travel (which I love) and cooking in between. I hope you saw my Instagram.
I am yet to come back to full swing. Somehow managing everyday routine, so much tired and lazy ;P Today I pushed myself to publish this vellai kurma as it has been so long I posted an interesting recipe.
I scheduled all simple ones and went for the trip, now should get into some serious cooking. I am yet to approve and reply to your comments and queries, thanks for being patient, I will definitely answer each one of you soon.
My MIL's kurma is somewhat similar to this vellai kurma, but cannot be said white kurma as it has tomato. I am glad I tried this one, the flavor was so refreshing and awesome.
Aj too loved this a lot. This comes handy when you want to make side dish for chapati without tomato. When you run out of tomato, you can make this.
Check out my green kurma (Veg saagu) 😉😍
Recipe card
Vellai kurma recipe | White kurma
Ingredients
- 3 Potato small
- 5 Beans
- ½ Carrot
- ¼ cup Green peas
- 1 cup Cauliflower florets
- 1 Onion
- 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon Sugar
- 8 Curry leaves
- Salt as needed
To grind
- ¾ cup Coconut grated & loosely packed
- 5 Green chilli small
- 5 Cashew nuts
- 1 teaspoon Fried gram dal pottu kadalai
- 6 Small onions shallots
- 5 flakes Garlic small variety
- ½ tablespoon Ginger chopped
- ½ teaspoon Fennel
- ¼ Inch Cinnamon
- 1 Clove
- 1 Cardamom
To temper
- 2 tablespoon Oil
- ½ teaspoon Fennel seeds
- ¼ Inch Cinnamon
- 1 Clove
- 1 Cardamom
Instructions
- Peel the skin of potato, carrot and chop it along with beans, finely. Keep aside with green peas.3 Potato , 5 Beans, ½ Carrot, ¼ cup Green peas
- Cut cauliflower into bite sized pieces and soak in hot water with salt until use.1 cup Cauliflower florets
- In a container, place the chopped veggies except cauliflower. Add sugar, little salt and water (¼ cup). Pressure cook just for a whistle.¼ tsp Sugar, Salt
- Gather and grind all the ingredients under 'To grind'. First grind without water and later add water and grind smoothly.¾ cup Coconut, 5 Green chilli, 5 Cashew nuts , 1 tsp Fried gram dal, 6 Small onions, 5 flakes Garlic, ½ tbsp Ginger chopped , ½ tsp Fennel , ¼ Inch Cinnamon , 1 Clove, 1 Cardamom
- Heat a kadai with oil and temper with the items given under 'To temper' table. Add sliced onion.1 Onion , ½ tsp Fennel seeds, ¼ Inch Cinnamon , 1 Clove, 1 Cardamom , 2 tbsp Oil
- Fry until soft. Add the ground paste. (I transferred to a heavy bottomed vessel)
- Give it a mix. Add cooked vegetables, cauliflower.1 cup Cauliflower florets
- Add required water (2 cups). Simmer until cauliflower gets cooked and gravy gets thick.
- Cauliflower should get cooked, so make sure to add enough water. Once thick, switch off the flame. Add torn curry leaves.8 Curry leaves
- Add lemon juice and mix well. As cools down, it will thicken slightly.1 tsp Lemon juice
Notes
- Add more potato and cauliflower to keep the kurma on whiter side.
- My potatoes after chopping roughly came 1 & ½ cups.
- Do not over cook the veggies.
- Here in singapore, cauliflower gets cooked and mashed very fast. So I add separately later only. If Indian variety, it takes longer to cook, so adjust cooking time accordingly.
- Keep mixing to avoid the gravy getting burnt.
- I added 2 teaspoon of coconut oil and it was really good.
- You can add coriander leaves too for garnish.
Stepwise pictures
1. Peel the skin of potato, carrot and chop it along with beans, finely. Keep aside with green peas. Cut cauliflower into bite sized pieces and soak in hot water with salt until use.
These are the vegetables I used for vellai kurma or white kurma.
2. In a container, place the chopped veggies except cauliflower. Add ¼ teaspoon sugar, little salt and water (¼ cup). Pressure cook just for a whistle.
Vellai kurma masala
3. Gather and grind all the ingredients under 'To grind'. First blend without water and later add little and blend smoothly.
4. Heat a kadai with oil and temper with the items given under 'To temper' table. Add sliced onion.
5. Fry until soft. Add the ground paste. (I transferred to a heavy bottomed vessel)
6. Give it a mix. Add vegetables, cauliflower.
7. Add required water (2 cups). Simmer until cauliflower gets done and gravy gets thick.
8. All should get cooked, so make sure to add enough water. Once thick, switch off the flame. Add torn curry leaves.
9. Add lemon juice and mix well. As cools down, it will thicken slightly.
You can serve this with Idli, dosa, chapati, idiyappam or even puri .
Babooty says
In kerala we used make this and well suited for Appam( Kallappam/ Vellayappam). But we wont add lemon juice, but a final touch with pepper poweder
Creative Thinker!!!! says
Love your marudhani!! Have made this a lot of times. Will try your recipe soon..
Raks anand says
Something like a stew right? even I felt it had more of kerala touch 🙂
Raks anand says
Thank you, I love marudhani too 🙂
Sumithra Senthil Kumar says
Hi raks kurma is looking flavourful and love the marudhani too....
Anusha Madhavan says
Hi Raji, Wish to try this recipe. As we don't eat nuts, can I drop the cashew nuts and increase the quantity of coconut and pottukadalai ?
Also, can I replace shallots with regular onion ?
Thanks !
Meanwhile, I enjoyed seeing all your (Instagram)trip pictures.Glad you had a great trip. 🙂
Radhika shankar says
Can I make this recipe without cauliflower and add capsicum instead. Will adding paneer spoil the taste. Pls suggest
Raks Anand says
Hi Radhika, You can make it with cauliflower sure, though capsicum may turn the colour slightly, otherwise it's good. Paneer is also a good choice, it will blend well in the recipe. Thank you.
Raks anand says
Sure you canuse just pottu kadalai and if you like kasakasa you can add along with coconut Shallots can be replaced with regular onion too. Glad you followed my IG posts 🙂
Unknown says
I tried this today. It came out very good. Thank you for the awesome recipe..
soniya ponrajan says
Hi mam,one doubt for me.I wish to grind flax seeds with wheat flour.In what ratio I add flax seed to wheat
Raks Kitchen says
I am really sorry, don't have experience handling flax seeds. So I couldn't help you