This creamy vegetable curry is the tastiest way to eat your veggies! It’s a famous Indian dish known as Navratan korma, which translates to “nine-gem” curry. It sounds fancy but after you make it just once, you’ll see how easy it is to make!
(If you’re looking for the instant pot version of this recipe, visit this blog post)
THIS DISH IS ROYAL.
Navratan Korma is a rich, creamy, and flavorful dish that literally translates to nine-gem curry. The “gems” are the fruits, vegetables, and nuts that make up the curry. Vegetable korma was created in imperial kitchens and served to kings, queens, and other royals during the Mughal era in India.
If you’ve never had Mughlai cuisine, you’re in for a treat. Mughlai dishes are always over-the-top and incredibly delicious. They usually include dried fruit and nuts like golden raisins and cashews as well as heavy cream or coconut milk. I typically make Mughlai dishes (korma, shami kebab, malai kofta, etc) on special occasions or when we have guests over for dinner.
THIS IS MUCH BETTER THAN RESTAURANT KORMA.
My recipe is sweet, spicy, nutty, and creamy. Though it consists of many ingredients, navratan korma is actually an easy dish to prepare. There are a few steps, but the more often you make this, the easier it’ll become. I’m also certain that as soon as you finish this meal, you’ll already have plans to make it again soon.
NAVRATAN KORMA IS EASY TO ADAPT.
I use 4 cups of chopped, mixed vegetables as well as 2 cups of potatoes, cut into small cubes. If you don’t want to use potatoes, you can use sweet potatoes or another vegetable. I use different vegetables depending on what’s in season. I prefer to use fresh vegetables, but a combination of fresh and frozen veggies work too. You can also add paneer if you’d like.
This dish is one of my favorite Indian vegetarian recipes. Stir some cream and fenugreek leaves into the curry, then top it off with ghee-coated cashews and golden raisins.
Serve this korma with my paleo naan, nut-free roti or basmati rice. This sweet, spicy, nutty, and creamy curry is unlike any dish you’ve had before. This dish really is regal!
Ingredients
Veggies:
- 4 cups chopped vegetables peas, green beans, green bell pepper, carrots, broccoli
- 2 cups potato chopped into 1 inch cubes
Curry:
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 onions roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 2 inch ginger roughly chopped
- 1-2 thai bird chilies or 1 serrano pepper
- 1 large tomato
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder or ½ teaspoon paprika and pinch of cayenne
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
- ½ cup cashews
- 1 ½ cup water
Finishing Touches:
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- ¼ cup golden raisins
- ¼ cup cashews
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut cream, from the top of a can of refrigerated full-fat coconut milk
- pinch of dried fenugreek leaves
- Optional: chopped cashews and cilantro for garnish
Instructions
Prep the Veggies:
- Bring water to a boil then add the chopped potatoes.
- Cover with a lid for 5 minutes, then add the rest of the vegetables. Put the lid back on and cook for 5 minutes.
- Drain the veggies in a colander and set aside for now.
Make Curry:
- Heat 2 tablespoons ghee in a medium pot (I use a Dutch Oven) over medium heat.
- Add cumin seeds and once they turn brown, add the onions. Stir-fry until onions are soft.
- Then add garlic, ginger, thai bird chili, tomato and spices. Stir-fry for a minute, then add the cashews.
- Stir-fry for 8-10 minutes.
- Let this cool and then pour into a blender along with 1 ½ cups of water.
- Puree until smooth.
- Pour the blended curry back into the pot over low heat, then add the cooked vegetables.
Finishing Touches:
- Add coconut cream and kasoori methi to the pot and stir.
- In a small pan over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of ghee, golden raisins, and cashews. Stir-fry for a minute, then add sprinkle this over the curry along with some chopped cilantro.
RC says
The curry sauce smelled sooo good, but then when I added the 1 1/2 cups of water to it in the blender, it made the entire thing taste so watery and more bland than the way it smelled before putting it in the blender. Any tips?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
You can always add less water if you don’t mind a thinner curry or reduce it at the end if you’d like.
Dylan says
Try replacing the water with vegetable stock for extra flavour
Jen says
Thank you for the recipe. I have made this a few times. Always a hit. ❤❤❤🙏🙏
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Jen, so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how much you like this recipe 🙂
Stephen Arndt says
Forgive my ignorance, but can you serve this over rice?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Stephen, yes this is great over basmati rice! You can also serve it with pea pulao or jeera rice. Love questions like these that show interest, so thanks for asking!
Mary says
Ashley…made this earlier today and was AMAZING!!! Thank you for yet another outstanding recipe.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Mary, I’m so glad you liked this! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
siobhan says
how many servings does this make ?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
I’d say 4 servings.
Kusuma says
The curry turned yumm! Thanks for the recipe
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Kusuma, that’s so nice to hear, thank you for sharing 🙂
Ben says
Outstanding recipe. Have had a tricky time finding Indian recipes that taste like the ones from our favorite Indian restaurant (shoutout to Pintu’s in W. Springfield MA!) but this one gets us super super close. Have made this several times now and it’ll always be in our rotation. I add in a pinch of asafoetida at the end – if you haven’t used it, it was described to me as Indian umami and that it makes your dish taste a little more like you’d get at a restaurant and I completely agree.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Thanks, Ben! Happy to hear that you like this so much!
Karina says
So delicious! Narvattan Korma is by far my favorite dish so its nice that I can make it at home when I can’t get to my favorite Indian restaurant! My dish didn’t get the orange color unfortunately, it came out more yellow. Not sure what it lacked in order to get the orange color, but over the flavors were amazing. Will definitely make again. ♡
My Heart Beets says
Karina, I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you! As for the color, you can always add more kashmiri red chili powder or paprika to give it more of a red color if you’d like 🙂
Aishwarya says
Hey. Do you have a video for the Navratna Korma recipe?
My Heart Beets says
Hi Aishwarya, I don’t but good to know there’s interest in a video – I’ll add it to my list!
deepak says
Hello Madam, read your post very well and your recipe was very good and I made it too but a little salt is too much, then from next time I will keep the salt a little less, you keep giving your recipe in this way.