Navratan Korma is a rich and mildly sweet Indian curry made with nine key ingredients. It includes assorted vegetables, nuts and dry fruits cooked in a creamy gravy. The dish is flavored with aromatic spices and a few herbs for balance. This classic vegetarian korma is often served with naan, roti or rice.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 40 minutes
  • Cook time: 30 minutes
  • Total time: 70 minutes
  • Yield: 5
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian, Mughlai

Ingredients

  • 2 medium carrots (- peeled and chopped or 70 grams carrots or about ½ cup chopped carrots)
  • ½ cup shelled peas or frozen peas
  • 1 large potato (or 2 medium potato or ¾ cup chopped potatoes or 150 grams potatoes)
  • ¼ cup chopped green beans (or 40 to 50 grams beans or 10 to 12 beans)
  • 1 cup chopped cauliflower (gobi florets) (- optional)
  • 8 to 9 babycorn (- chopped (optional))
  • 2 medium sized onions (sliced or ½ cup thinly sliced onions)
  • 2 to 3 green chilies (hari mirch) (- chopped)
  • ½ tablespoon ginger garlic paste (or 5 to 6 garlic and ¾ inch ginger - crushed to a a paste in mortar-pestle)
  • ½ cup curd ((yogurt) or 100 grams curd)
  • ⅓ cup fresh low fat cream (or 3 to 4 tablespoon whipping cream)
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon red chili powder
  • 2 tablespoon ghee
  • 1 cup water (or add as required)
  • salt as required
  • 1 tablespoon poppy seeds ((khus khus))
  • 10 to 12 almonds
  • 10 to 12 cashews
  • 1 tablespoon melon seeds ((magaz))
  • ¼ cup water for grinding to a paste (or add as required)
  • 2 to 3 green cardamom
  • 1 black cardamom
  • 3 cloves
  • 1 inch stick of cinnamon
  • 1 tej patta ((indian bay leaf))
  • 2 single strands of mace
  • 1 tablespoon ghee ((clarified butter))
  • 6 to 7 almonds (- blanched and peeled)
  • 10 pistachois
  • 10 cashewnuts
  • 10 walnut halves
  • 1 tablespoon raisins
  • ½ cup chopped pineapple (or 2 to 3 pineapple slices - chopped)
  • ½ tablespoon melon seeds
  • 1 tablespoon mint leaves
  • a pinch of saffron strands
  • 2 teaspoon ginger julienne

Method

Preparing nuts and seeds paste

  1. Soak all the dry fruits and seeds in hot water for 30 to 40 minutes.
  2. Remove the peels from the almonds and add the peeled almonds in a grinder or blender jar.
  3. Then drain water from the remaining nuts-seeds mixture and also add them to the grinder jar.
  4. Add ¼ cup water and grind to a smooth fine paste. Add more water if required while making the paste. Keep this paste aside.

Making navratan korma

  1. Heat ghee in a thick bottomed pot or a deep pan. Add all the "whole spices" mentioned above and fry till they crackle and become aromatic.
  2. Add the sliced onions and saute them till they turn golden stirring often.
  3. Now add the ginger-garlic paste and chopped green chilies. Saute for a few seconds or till the raw aroma of ginger-garlic goes away.
  4. Now add the nuts-seeds paste and curd. Mix well. When you add the curd then either keep the heat to low or switch off the heat. Make sure you beat the curd before you add and mix it quickly as soon as you add it.
  5. Then add turmeric and red chili powder. Stir again.
  6. Stir and saute for 3 to 4 minutes on a low heat. Do stir often so that the mixture does not get stuck to the bottom of the pan.
  7. Then add the mixed veggies. Stir.
  8. Next add 1 cup water. Season with salt. Mix very well.
  9. Cover and simmer the veggies till they are cooked and fork tender. Take care not to overcook them.
  10. Once the veggies are cooked, add the cream and stir it with the rest of the gravy. Switch off the heat.
  11. Sprinkle garam masala powder. Cover and keep aside.

Garnishing navratan korma

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon ghee in a small frying pan. Add 6 to 7 blanched almonds (you can soak these almonds when soaking the nuts for the paste and then peel them).
  2. Saute almonds till they turn a pale golden.
  3. Take them to one side of the pan and now add 10 pistachios, 10 cashews, 10 walnut halves. Saute till the cashews turn a light golden.
  4. Now add 1 tablespoon raisins and ½ tablespoon melon seeds. Saute for some seconds.
  5. Then add ½ cup chopped pineapple cubes. Saute for a minute.
  6. Next add 1 tablespoon mint leaves, a pinch of saffron strands and 2 teaspoon ginger julienne.
  7. Saute for half a minute.

Serving navratan korma

  1. While serving garnish the korma with the sauteed nuts, seeds and pineapple cubes. Serve it with indian flatbread like tandoori roti, naan, chapatis or parathas. It also goes well with cumin rice.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.