This delicious Mughlai dish gets its name Navratan (meaning nine gems) from the nine different veggies, fruit and nuts used in it! Serve it with hot Naans and you're sure to impress!
Ingredients:
- 4 tbsps vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil
- 1/2 cup cashews, broken into bits
- 1 cup paneer (cottage cheese) cubes (1" cubes) - see recipe below
- 2 medium-sized onions chopped and ground to a fine paste
- 2 tsps garlic paste
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 3 tomatoes chopped and ground to a fine paste
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- 1 cup peeled, cubed, parboiled potato
- 12-15 french beans, tops and tails removed, parboiled
- 2 medium carrots chopped into small cubes and parboiled
- 1/2 cup green peas, parboiled
- 1 cup cauliflower florets, parboiled
- 1 medium-sized green bell pepper, seeds removed and cut into 1" squares
- 1 cup pineapple cubes
- 3 tbsps thickened/ double/ heavy cream
- Salt to taste
Preparation:
- Heat a deep pan on medium flame and add 1 tsp of cooking oil to it. Now add the cashews and fry till slightly darker. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside on paper towels, for later use.
- Do the same for the paneer cubes and keep aside for later.
- In the same pan, add the remaining cooking oil and heat. Now add the onion paste and fry till slightly browned.
- Add the garlic and ginger pastes and fry for 1 minute. Now add the tomato paste and fry for another 1 minute.
- Add all the spice powders and fry the masala till the oil begins to separate from it. Stir often to keep the masala from sticking to the pan and burning.
- Now add 1 cup of warm water to this masala and mix well. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add all the vegetables, pineapple, paneer and previously fried cashews. Mix gently but well making sure not to mash or break the pieces of the vegetable. Cook till veggies are done but not limp (they must be al dente!)
- Add the cream, season with salt to taste, stir and turn off heat.
- Serve with hot Naans (leavened, tandoor-baked Indian flatbread).
