The sublime Indian dish the West did its best to ruin

The dish

Korma, India

Plate up

We’ve done terrible things to the food of India in the West. We have made some dishes unrecognisable and completely fabricated others. We have mooshed together the styles and cuisines of almost 1.5 billion people across 28 states speaking almost 800 languages and turned them into a standard menu of 10 or so things we have decided to call “curry”. And one of those is korma.

Lamb korma… a dish that’s been remade, reinvented and ruined by the West.Credit: Alamy

You’ve probably tried it many times and found it tastes different on every occasion. The basic meaning of korma – an Anglicised version of the Hindi-Urdu qorma – is “braise”, as this is the key to the dish: meat is seared in ghee with onions and spices and then slow-cooked in liquid, before additional spices are heated with ghee and added to the pot. The dish is traditionally cooked with yoghurt too, which is incorporated into the braise. The spices used vary from place to place, cook to cook, which helps explain the varying flavour profiles.

First serve

Though korma originates in India, its roots stretch all the way to Persia and Central Asia: this dish was a key part of Mughlai cuisine, developed during Mughal rule of India in the 16th and 17th centuries. The braising technique is also used in Iranian and Turkish cuisines – add yoghurt and spice blends, and you have yourself a korma. The Mughals ruled from the city of Agra, and there’s a story that korma was served to Shah Jahan at the inauguration of the Taj Mahal. Though, these stories should always be taken with a grain of salt (and a pinch of spice).

Order there

In Agra, visit The Nawaabs in Bansal Nagar for a solid korma in comfortable surrounds (no website).

Order here

In Sydney, head to Chatkazz in Harris Park to try the vegetarian Navarata korma (chatkazz.com.au). There’s also an outlet of Chatkazz in Adelaide. For Melbourne residents, try Dosa Hut’s Mughlai chicken in Werribee (dosahut.net.au).

Cook it

Follow this cream-free chicken korma recipe on Good Food.

One more thing

The version of korma served in Australian-Indian restaurants most closely resembles the one developed/bastardised in the UK: you’ll find heavy use of nuts such as cashews or almonds, only mild spices, and coconut milk to further smooth it out.