South Indian style veg kurma recipe made with mixed vegetables, spices & coconut. This hotel style vegetable korma tastes very delicious, flavorful & is quick to make. Instructions included for stovetop and Instant pot.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 4 · 4 to 6
  • Category: Side
  • Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup fresh coconut (or ¼ cup coconut milk or 2 tbsps poppy seeds)
  • 12 cashew nuts
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds ((saunf or sombu or ½ tsp powder))
  • 1 tablespoon roasted chana dal ((fried gram, roasted gram) (optional))
  • 6 tablespoons water (or coconut milk)
  • 1 small bay leaf ((tej patta))
  • 1 star anise ((chakri phool) (optional))
  • 1 strand mace ((javithri) (optional))
  • ½ teaspoon cumin ((jeera))
  • 2 green cardamoms ((elaichi))
  • 3 cloves ((laung))
  • 1 inch cinnamon ((dalchini))
  • 2 tablespoon oil
  • 1 cup onions (finely chopped - 2 medium)
  • 1 green chilli (optional)
  • ¾ to 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste (or fine chopped)
  • ¾ cup tomatoes (fine chopped - 2 medium sized)
  • ¾ to 1 teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup beans ((8 to 10) chopped to ½ inch pieces)
  • ¾ cup carrot ((1 medium) chopped to ½ inch pieces)
  • ¾ to 1 cup cauliflower ((gobi florets))
  • 1 cup potatoes ((2 medium) chopped to ½ inch)
  • ¾ cup green peas (or matar)
  • 1¾ cups water
  • 2 tablespoons coriander leaves (for garnish)
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric (or haldi)
  • 1 teaspoon red chili powder (kashmiri or byadgi)
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon garam masala

Method

Preparation

  1. Fine chop onions & tomatoes. Slit chilli and set aside all of these. Cube the veggies to ½ inch sizes and set aside. Keep the potatoes immersed in a bowl of water until used.
  2. Make a fine paste of coconut, cashews, roasted chana dal & saunf with 6 tbsps water. If you do not like the flavor of fennel seeds you may skip it. Set aside the kurma paste.
  3. Heat a pot with oil. Then saute bay leaf, star anise, mace, jeera, cardamoms, cloves and cinnamon until they sizzle.
  4. Next put in the chopped onions and green chili. Fry until they turn transparent & pink in color.
  5. Fry ginger garlic paste until the raw smell goes off.
  6. Next saute tomatoes with salt until mushy and soft.
  7. Add turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala and coriander leaves. Saute well for 2 to 3 mins until the masala smells really good.

How to Make Veg Kurma

  1. Transfer the coconut paste and saute for few minutes until the kurma masala smells good.
  2. Drain the water from potatoes and add them to the pot.
  3. Next add the other veggies and mix well. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes and then pour water just enough to cover the veggies. Adjust salt if needed.
  4. Cook until the veggies are cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves.
  5. Serve veg kurma with chapati, pulao or biryani.

Instant pot Vegetable Korma

  1. Press SAUTE button and pour oil to the inner pot of Instant pot. Add all the whole spices and saute for 30 seconds.
  2. Next add onions and chili. saute for 3 mins.
  3. Add ginger garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
  4. Next add tomatoes and salt. Saute for 1 minute.
  5. Move the onions and tomatoes to one side. Add the potatoes to the other side.
  6. Cover with an external lid and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
  7. Saute all of these for 1 to 2 minutes.
  8. Add in all the spice powder and saute for 30 to 60 seconds.
  9. Press CANCEL button and add the coconut paste.
  10. Add the rest of the veggies and mix well.
  11. Pour water and deglaze the bottom by scrubbing with a spatula. This releases bits of food stuck there & avoids a burn.
  12. Taste the water and add more salt if needed.
  13. Secure the Instant pot with the lid and position the steam release handle/ value to sealing.
  14. Press PRESSURE COOK button (high pressure) and set the timer to 1 minute.
  15. After the Instant pot beeps, wait for 1 minute. Then release the pressure manually by moving the steam release value from sealing to venting.
  16. Give a gentle stir. Vegetable korma will look runny at this stage but will thicken after it cools down a bit.

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.