My vegan Navratan Korma is a decadent but healthy dish with a luxurious sauce of cashew cream that coats perfectly cooked veggies like potatoes, carrots, green beans and bell peppers. This is the dish to impress friends and family with.
A Navratan Korma is what Indians call a "shahi" dish: a food so sumptuous that it is fit for royalty.
This is distinct from a Vegetable Korma, which is also utterly delicious. In a Navratan Korma cashews and raisins melt into a luxurious, silky, creamy white sauce that coats perfectly cooked and tender cauliflower, carrots, green beans and potatoes. It's a dish you might imagine yourself eating at a fine restaurant or in a palatial dining room with that extinct species called an Indian maharaja. 😉
But why aspire to that when you can have this fancy dish in the comfort of your own home?
Eaters outside India often refer to "Indian food" as if it were a monolithic entity, but as someone even a little more than casually acquainted with the intricacies of Indian food would know, there is no such thing as "Indian food." India is an ancient country, with many regional and religious flavors, and mixed into the food are not just these diversities, but also the tastes and ingredients contributed by those who migrated into India over hundreds and even thousands of years, and stayed there.
Navratan Korma comes from what is known in India as Mughlai cuisine -- the cuisine of the mughuls or moghuls, Persian invaders who set up vast empires across the Indian continent (Shahjahan, the guy who built the Taj Mahal, was one of them). Mughlai cuisine has a distinct flavor and even distinct aromas of its own, and it generally uses lots of meat, nuts and dry fruits -- all ingredients that, in those days, were more accessible, perhaps, only to royalty.
The word "navratan" literally translates to "the nine gems," and the story goes that the name of this dish possibly derives from the Mughal emperor Akbar's nine famous and talented courtiers referred to as "navratan" or the nine gems. Another story attributes the name to the fact that the dish is supposed to be a melange of nine vegetables.
Despite these fancy antecedents and associations, the Navratan Korma is a rather accessible dish to even those of us who are not royalty. It is not a difficult dish to make and you do not need nine types of veggies (although you could certainly use them). And although there are a few separate steps involved, befitting a royal dish, it should take you no more than an hour to cook up.
And imagine the rewards when you put this on the dining table!
Why is the sauce in this korma white?
While most Indian curries are yellow or red, the sauce of a navratan korma should be whitish. That's because the sauce is made of cream, nuts and yogurt. Don't add turmeric in here if you want it to look authentic.
In my vegan Navratan Korma, I replace the cream with a ground paste of cashewnuts, which is a much healthier substitution and which goes perfectly with the fruits and spices. In fact, even in my pre-vegan days, I'd often use cashewnut paste or pistachio paste as a substitute for cream in meat and vegetable dishes, and as you know from all the Indian recipes I share here on the blog, it works perfectly.
Don't use coconut milk in a Navratan Korma. While it's fine in a regular south Indian vegetable korma, a navratan korma is a north Indian dish, and coconut and north Indian food very rarely mix. I'm all for standing tradition on its head and mixing up traditions, but some things just don't taste right when you screw 'em up with too much imagination. 😉
What vegetables can I use in this korma?
Traditionally, you'd use carrots, potatoes, green beans and green peas, but here's one place where you can do some experimenting. I like adding jewel-colored bell peppers in here, and this time I left out the green peas. You can also use sweet potatoes and zucchini here with good results.
Also, raisins are used to add some sweetness to this royal dish, but you can also use chopped fresh or canned pineapples.
What to serve with the korma
The Navratan Korma is a thick curry so it's best scooped up with a bread like a naan or roti.
But you can certainly serve it with rice and it'd be spectacular with a very simple jeera rice.
Ingredients for Navratan Korma:
- Onion
- Ginger
- Green chili peppers (like jalapeno or serrano)
- Garlic
- Cauliflower
- Green Beans
- Potatoes
- Bell peppers
- Cashews
- Peppercorns
- Green cardamom
- Cloves
- Cinnamon sticks
- Vegan yogurt
- Golden raisins
- Garam masala
- Extra firm or super firm tofu (optional if you want to make this soy-free)
Looking for other Indian restaurant-style dishes?
- Vegetable Korma
- Tofu Cubes in a Black Pepper Curry Sauce, Tofu "Paneer" Kali Mirch
- Palak Tofu "Paneer"
- Vegetable Biryani in 30 minutes
- Aloo Gobi
- Oven-blackened Tandoori Tofu
- Tofu Tikka Masala
- Mirchi ka Salan
Navratan Korma
Navratan Korma
Ingredients
- 1 large onion (cut into large chunks)
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- 2 green chili peppers (like jalapeno or serrano)
- 5 cloves garlic
- ½ head cauliflower (separated into medium-sized florets)
- 1 medium carrot (cut in a ½-inch dice)
- 1 cup green beans (cut into a 1-inch dice)
- 2 medium potatoes (cut in a ½-inch dice)
- 1 large bell pepper (cut in a ½-inch dice)
- ½ cup cashew nuts (divided)
- 1.5 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 5 cloves
- 1 inch piece cinnamon
- ½ cup vegan yogurt
- 2 tablespoon golden raisins
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 10 oz extra firm tofu (cut into approx ½-inch cubes)
Instructions
- Place the cauliflower, carrots, green beans and potatoes in a large saucepan. Add half a cup of water, bring to a boil, cover and cook for five minutes. After five minutes, add the green beans and bell peppers and continue cooking another five minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain and remove to a bowl. You can reserve the cooking water and use it as a stock instead of water later in the recipe.
- Place the onion in a saucepan, cover with water, bring to a boil, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Drain the onion, put it in a blender, and make a smooth paste.
- Crush the garlic, ginger and green chili peppers, preferably with a mortar and pestle (or food processor is fine). Set aside.
- Blend half the cashews (¼ cup) into a very smooth paste in the blender with ½ cup water)
- In a large saucepan (you can use the one you cooked the veggies in), add 1 tablespoon of oil and add the cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom and peppercorns. Saute for a minute until they start to change color and become fragrant.
- Lower the heat and add the onion paste. Continue cooking for another 7-8 minutes, stirring frequently to keep the paste from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the crushed ginger-garlic-green-chili-pepper paste and saute another minute. Now add the cashew paste and the yogurt, mix, and continue cooking for another five minutes. Stir frequently to avoid sticking.
- Add all of the cooked vegetables and tofu. Mix well and add a little more water if needed (you can use the reserved water from cooking the vegetables as needed). You want the gravy to be thick enough to coat the veggies, and not too runny. Add salt to taste.
- Let the korma come to a boil and cook another five minutes for all of the flavors to blend. Turn off the heat.
- In a small saucepan, heat the remaining ½ tablespoon oil and add the remaining ¼ cup of cashews and raisins. Stir-fry until the raisins become puffy and the cashews start to become golden.
- Pour the cashews and raisins into the korma, sprinkle on the garam masala powder, stir once to mix, and serve.
Nutrition
Ida Moser
Wow, what a phenomenal punch of flavors!! I think that it’s a bit labor intensive but it’s well worth the time. I was not able to find plain vegan yoghurt so I took a chance with vanilla. This slight change in the recipe actually worked out just fine, perhaps because I’d added extra hot peppers? The veggies had a little crunch—the time listed in the prep was absolutely perfect! I will definitely prepare again. Thanks for yet another fabulous recipe!
Vaishali
So happy you tried this, Ida, and I'm happy the vanilla sub worked out -- the recipe has the sweetness of raisins in it, so I can see how it would not be out of place. Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
Joe Rickerson
Thanks so much for the recipe because I can now cease ordering the cream laden but delicious Navratan Korma at restaurants. The meal we had tonight was almost perfect--soy chicken saag, channa masala, Navratan Korma and white basmati rice. I gotta quit eating that aromatic basmati rice and switch to brown basmati rice. Also next time I will use just one red chile in order to make the dish less daunting for my wife and daughter. Although my daughter has difficulty speaking when eating spicy Indian food so our Indian meals tend to be more contemplative.
Vaishali
Hi Joe, that sounds wonderful-- so glad you tried the korma. This is one of my favorites too. Thanks for letting me know!
orgeluse
Hi Vaishali, thanks for posting this recipe! I am at the moment making the dish and wondering should I grind the cashews with the soaking water or just the cashews?
Vaishali
Hey there, you can use the soaking water to grind the cashews. Hope I got you in time. Enjoy! 🙂
Anonymous
He's so adorable that I could stare at his pic for hours. He almost seems to break into a smile any moment.
Rudraksha
awesome and very informative post thanks for sharing
navratan
Dame Darling
I'm thrilled to find your delicious vegan Indian recipes here! I work in an Indian restaurant and we specialize in dishes from Southern India-- Dosas are great! (but soooo much cream!) Thank you for helping me continue my adoration for such amazing cuisine. Xoxo!
Anonymous
My Lhasa apso, Tushti also has mitral valve disease and kidney problems. She is on Vetmedin, Lasix and Spiro. It is heartbreaking.
Rajee
I can smell the aroma of Navratna kurma. I know u love animals.
Sunshinemom
Vaishali - on a blogging roll, aren't you?!! This dish looks delish! The kiddy pics looked great too!
Vaishali
Cham, Thanks!
Destiny: Thanks. He's been a little down for the last couple of days but he's getting better slowly. Keep sending out those good thoughts! 🙂
Notyet100, Pearlsofeast, Nirmala, Srikar's Kitchen: Thanks, ladies!
Nupur: So happy you tried out the dosa, and thanks for the brown rice proportions. I'll be sure to try it out.
Dale looks like such a big sweetheart: and you never know, he might just love having a little kitty sister around!
Sireesha, Thanks!
Arundati, Glad Freddie brought back some nice memories of your Rishi. He sure is a cutie-pie, isn't he? I'll be posting more pics soon, so stay tuned.
Medha, Usha, Tom Divya, Bee: Thanks!
Pixiepine: Thanks, and welcome!
TS, Raaji: Thanks!
raaji
vow that looks real colorful.....dropped a lot of veggies....love that
TS
Soy yogurt is a lovely addition to the Kurma. Looks delicious.
cheers,trupti
pixiepine
What a wonderful blog! Followed your link from the PPK 🙂
bee
poor li'l pooch. i hate this kurma in restaurants, love it when it's served in people's homes. gotta try your version i agree, cashew paste has a more nuanced flavour than cream.
Divya Vikram
Looks just delicious..
Tom Aarons
That's just beautiful Vaishali. Thank you for sharing.
Usha
Your navratan kurma looks delicious,my cousin mentioned that she uses cashewnut paste too,I have yet to try it this way...your pics are tempting me to try this soon though...:) Freddie does look cute:)
Medhaa
Love the Navarathan Kurma, will try soon.
Happy Ganesh Chaturti.
arundati
everytime you post a pic of this fellow, my heart swells....he reminds me of my cross bred wire haired terrier Rishi whom i lost in 2002, he was grey....but otherwise looked just like this baby...i do not have any pics of rishi....so any that you post are so precious... thanks...
Sireesha
NAvratan kurma looks soooo colorful and yumm yumm.
Cute Puppy......
Nupur
Oh my goodness- the korma looks wonderful! It is in my bookmarks for the next time I want to make something festive.
Off topic: I really enjoyed the post with all of your fur-babies, each more adorable than the next!! I would so love to bring a kitty home but Dale would never speak to me again.
Also, many thanks to you and your sis-in-law for the dosa recipe. The proportions are just perfect for our tastes and this is my new go-to dosa recipe. I use 1.5 cups brown rice and 0.5 cup white rice and follow the rest of the recipe to a T. Thanks!
srikars kitchen
Wow...Nice entry...
Really Mouth watering &awesome...
Yummy... Thxs for shar...
Nirmala
I love navrathan kurma and it would be standard choice if I go to restaurants. And now I can make it at home! Thanks Vaishali!
Pearlsofeast
Lovely curry Vaishali,How interesting me too wanted make this one,nice to your read version.
notyet100
enjoyed readin ur post,..hpy ganesha chaturthi,..kurma looks yum,..:-)
Destiny's Vegan Kitchen
I love savory recipes with pineapple in them! They're just zingy enough to get me hooked.
Freddie looks like such a sweetie. I'll send good thoughts into the universe for his heart. :o)
Cham
Happy Ganesha chaturthi Vaishu 🙂 The navratana kurma i only tasted in restaur never tried at home 🙂 Ur dish looks perfect