Korma — from qorma, ‘to braise’ — is one of the oldest dishes of the Mughal table: meat cooked slow in yogurt thickened with a paste of fried onions, the gravy carried not by water but by the meat’s own juices and the curd. Shahi means royal, and the shahi korma is the enriched version, almonds and a little cream or cashew folded in, scented with saffron and a drop of kewra, the dish that lands at the centre of a north Indian Muslim wedding feast (the walima). Its one inviolable rule is what it leaves out: no tomato. The sourness is meant to come from the yogurt alone — add tomato and you are halfway to butter chicken, a different dish entirely. (It is also not the southern kurma, which is built on coconut.) Everything depends on browning the onions properly and folding them in late so they keep their flavour. This version follows Swasthi Shreekanth, whose Swasthi’s Recipes sets down the Mughlai korma in its almond-enriched shahi form — an English-language record that keeps the tomato out where it belongs.
INGREDIENTS
- 700 g bone-in mutton or goat (cut into pieces)
- 3 large onions (finely sliced)
- 12 blanched almonds
- 4 tbsp plain full-fat yogurt (whisked)
- 6 tbsp ghee
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 2 black cardamom pods
- 6 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 8 black peppercorns
- 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground mace
- ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1½ tsp salt (plus more to taste)
- a pinch of saffron (soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk)
- 1 tsp kewra water
- flaked almonds (to finish)
METHOD
- Fry the sliced onions in the ghee and oil until deep golden-brown (birista), then lift out, reserving a little for garnish, and grind the rest with the blanched almonds and a splash of water to a paste.
- In the same fat, add the whole spices (cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns), then the ginger-garlic paste, and cook for a minute.
- Add the mutton and fry on high heat until sealed and lightly browned, 6–8 minutes.
- Stir in the Kashmiri chilli, coriander, mace, nutmeg and salt, then lower the heat and add the whisked yogurt gradually, stirring constantly so it doesn’t split.
- Add the onion-almond paste and about 300ml hot water, cover, and simmer on low until the meat is tender, 50–60 minutes.
- Stir in the garam masala, saffron milk and kewra water, and simmer uncovered for a few minutes until the oil rises and the gravy is glossy.
- Check the salt and rest off the heat.
- Finish with the reserved fried onions and flaked almonds, and serve with naan, sheermal or rumali roti.
