Artichoke Rassa

On our wedding anniversary we had dinner at one of our all time favorite restaurants called Malabar in Santacruz,CA. Few of the things that I love about this place are, the 6 or 7 new items on the menu every time we go, creative fusion of east and west and a chef who checks on you at least twice during the meal. This time we ordered an artichoke curry which was mind blowing. I had never imagined artichoke in a curry and I have to say I loved the combo.
This new found love ganged with an excellent recipe I had been itching to try, resulted in the creation of Artichoke Rassa.
FYI the dish in which the rassa was served was made by me ( ceramics class is showing results now :) )

Ingredients:
Artichoke hearts (I used canned this time. Will definitely get fresh next time)
11/2 Onions (medium sized) sliced
3 vine tomatoes chopped(Roma would be fine- probably should use 2)
1/4 cup of coconut (I used frozen)
5 cloves
5 peppercorns
2 red chilies
(please use the preceding 3 spices as per your spice level. The original recipe calls for more spices. I toned it down and it was plenty spicy for us.)
1 tsp poppy seeds (khus-khus)
1 tsp Saunf (fennel seeds)
1 tsp ginger paste
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp oil
Coriander/Cilantro for garnish
Method:
1)Fry cloves, peppercorns, saunf, poppy seeds, red chilies in oil till the spices are fragrant.
2) Add the onions, garlic and ginger and fry.
3)Once the onions are cooked add the coconut and fry till it is light golden.
4) Add the tomatoes and cook for 4-5 minutes.
5)Grind this mixture adding water if needed.
6)Put the ground mixture back in to the pan and add water to get desired consistency. Bring it to a boil.
7) Add the artichoke hearts and let it simmer for 10 minutes or so.

I served it with plain rice but jeera rice would be nice too. I loved the slight bite of the artichoke drenched in the spicy rassa.It tasted so good we finished it up in one go. Though I am positive it will taste even better the next day :)