Hello, I’m Apoorva, a writer, editor, and artist. This week’s paid subscriber newsletter is a recipe for a Tamil-style veggie kuruma, a delightful corruption of the qorma. I hope you’ll give it a go. Support my work by becoming a paid subscriber. You can also follow 💌shelfoffering on Instagram.
The evolution of how the current kurma came to be is fascinating solely because it has been so bastardised throughout history. Kurma (or korma) — originally spelled qorma — claims its etymology from the Turkic qawirma/qawurma, which is a fried, braised meat dish. My recipe today is a vegetarian kuruma (Tamil bastardisation), so I’ve opted for just the braise. The qorma, a spelling and pronunciation I’m singularly obsessed with, also shares its name with the Persian ghormeh (as in ghormeh sabzi) and is closely related to it — the Persian meat stew was later enriched by almonds, cream, and yoghurt by the Mughalai cooks, who were fond of intense, rich flavours. Now, the korma is made via the technique of dumpukht where the meat is slow cooked in an encased pot, similar to a biryani, so the flavours can meld and develop together.
My version is a south Indian one (more Tamil I suppose) and uses fresh, grated coconut and poopy seeds ground into a paste along with cashews and fennel, which recalls the kurumas I ate in Chennai restaurants growing up. You could add chicken or mutton to this of course, or substitute the potatoes with a mix of vegetables — certainly make this your own and corrupt it further for there is nothing sweeter (or savoury) than that!
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