Shorba
Shorba or chorba is a general term that means gravy or stewin the Middle East and India. In this case, it's a "gravy" made with onions, tomatoes, and spices. Apparently a common side dish in South Indian restaurants, common served alongside biryani. I've actually neveer had this before but I was making some biryani, so I gave this a try. The picture looks quite unappetizing (the puree isn't well blended and is a bit chunky, unfortunately) but it tastes amazing and does in fact go great with biryani. The coconut adds a vibrant flavor that really brings everything together.
Active Time: 25 min
Total Time: 30 min
Ingredients
> onion (1, thinly sliced)
> ginger (1 tsp, minced)
> garlic (3 cloves, minced)
> tomato (2 medium, diced)
> grated coconut (1/4 cup)
> bay leaf (1)
> cardamom (3)
> mace (1 strand)
> star anise (2)
> cloves (3)
> cinnamon (1 inch)
> caraway seeds (1/2 tsp)
> mint (3 tbsp, chopped)
> red chili powder (1 tsp)
> garam masala (1 tsp)
> turmeric (1/2 tsp)
> vegetable stock (1.5 cups)
> yogurt (2 tbsp)
> ghee
> salt (to taste)
Instructions
1. In a pot or wok, fry sliced onions over medium-high heat with plenty of ghee until golden brown. Add ginger and garlic, and stir-fry for ~1 minute. Add tomato, and stir-fry until mushy. Add grated coconut, and stir-fry for 3-5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Blend all the vegetables together as fine as possible to form a puree.
3. In the same pan: fry bay leaf, cardamom, mace, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, and caraway seeds for ~1 minute. Add mint, and saute for ~1 minute. Add puree, red chili powder, garam masala, turmeric, and vegetable stock. Mix together and bring up to a boil.
4. Add yogurt, quickly incorporate, turn the heat down, and simmer for at least 8-10 minutes.
5. Serve and enjoy!
Notes/Tips:
> You'll want to blend the ingredients together as finely as possible. My blender isn't great, so my resulting gravy was somewhat chunky and unappealing. It tastes great, just looks weird.
> For any spice which you don't have whole, feel free to substitute a reasonable amount of ground spice; just make sure not to fry it directly in the oil, otherwise it will burn.