Navratan korma is a delicious and relatively mild Indian Mughlai curry that is packed with flavor and features lots of healthy veggies alongside juicy fruit and crunchy, protein-packed nuts.
In this article, we’ll be sharing the recipe with you by way of two different methods, including using an Instant Pot and on a stovetop.
We’re the first to admit that this recipe requires quite a lot of ingredients, but we’d also argue that each of the ingredients is fundamental to the overall taste of the curry and helps to enhance the dish by providing a delicious contrast of textures and flavors.
In terms of what equipment you will need for this recipe, you may well be pleased to hear that you can simply use your Instant Pot.
If you don’t have an Instant Pot just yet, however, then don’t worry – we’ll also explain how to make the Navratan Korma recipe on your stovetop.
You will also need either a food processor or a good blender in order to make the onion cashew paste.
Here’s what you’re going to need in terms of the ingredients, grouped according to the four parts:
The Onion Cashew Paste
- 1 inch of fresh ginger
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Between 10 and 12 cashew nuts
- 1 and a half cups of diced yellow onion
The Veggies
- Half a cup of green peas
- 1 cup of half inch cubes of potato
- Half a cup of green beans cut into half inch pieces
- 1 cup of cauliflower florets
- Half a cup of half inch cubes of carrot
The Korma Gravy
- 1 and a half cups of water
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 1 teaspoon of garam masala powder
- 1 teaspoon of ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds (also known as jeera seeds)
- Quarter of a teaspoon of turmeric powder
- Half of a teaspoon of red chili powder
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt to taste
Additional Ingredients
- Half a cup of cream (or coconut or cashew cream)
- Quarter of a cup of pineapple chunks
- Quarter of a cup of raisins
- Quarter of a cup of cashew nuts
- 1 cup of paneer cheese
- OPTIONAL: 1 tablespoon of kasuri methi (also known as dried fenugreek leaves)
Here’s what you need to do if you want to make the dish in your Instant Pot:
- Begin by cutting the vegetables into cubes of half an inch in size.
- Then place all of the ingredients for the onion cashew paste into your blender, and blend the ingredients together until you get a nice, smooth consistency. Then set this aside.
- Then, press the Sauté button on the instant Pot, and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, it’s time to throw in the pineapple chunks, raisins, and cashew nuts. When the cashews have turned golden brown, take the mixture in the Instant Pot out, and set it aside.
(The pineapple is completely optional, so you can miss this ingredient out if it’s not to your taste.)
- Now, it’s time to add the cumin seeds and bay leaf to the Instant Pot. Get the cumin seeds to crackle.
- Next, you need to throw in the onion cashew paste and sauté the ingredients together until the mixture turns a light brown color. This should take between 3 and 4 minutes in total.
- Now it’s time to throw in the diced vegetables, including the carrots, the cauliflower, the green beans, and the potato, as well as the green peas and the paneer cheese.
- Then you can add almost all of the remaining ingredients for the gravy, namely the water, the salt, the ground coriander, the turmeric powder, and the red chili powder. Give the mixture a really good stir. (You can add the paneer cheese in at this stage if you prefer.)
- Now, you can close the lid of the Instant Pot. Set the pot to MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK (or in other words, the high pressure setting). Set the timer for 2 minutes.
- When the alarm sounds, press the button for QUICK RELEASE. Now, you can add all of the remaining ingredients, including the onion cashew mixture, the garam masala, the kasuri methi (also known as dried fenugreek leaves), cream, pineapple chunks, and raisins. Combine the ingredients well by giving the mixture a good stir.
- At this point, it’s time to examine the consistency of the dish, adding more water or a little milk if you wish to make it thinner. Or, alternatively, you can add more cream to give the dish more creaminess.
- We recommend serving this dish immediately, perhaps alongside a side dish such as chapati, jeera rice, paratha, poori, or naan bread.
Alternatively, if you do not have access to an Instant Pot, here’s what you need to do if you want to make this navratan korma on your stovetop:
- Begin by cutting the vegetables into cubes of half an inch in size.
- Then place all of the ingredients for the onion cashew paste into your blender, and blend the ingredients together until you get a nice, smooth consistency. Then set this aside.
- Then, add some oil to your stove top pot or kadai. Once the oil is hot, it’s time to throw in the pineapple chunks, raisins, and cashew nuts. When the cashews have turned golden brown, take the mixture out, and set it aside.
(The pineapple is completely optional, so you can miss this ingredient out if it’s not to your taste.)
- Now, it’s time to add the cumin seeds and bay leaf to the stove top pot. Get the cumin seeds to crackle.
- Next, you need to throw in the onion cashew paste and sauté the ingredients together until the raw scent dissipates, and the oil begins to ooze out. This won’t take long.
- Now it’s time to throw in the diced vegetables, including the carrots, the cauliflower, the green beans, and the potato, as well as the green peas and the paneer cheese.
- You should cook them on a medium heat with a high flame until the vegetables become tender. This should take about 8 to 10 minutes. Be sure to stir the vegetables a few times during cooking, so as to avoid burning.
- Then you can add almost all of the remaining ingredients for the gravy, namely the water, the salt, the ground coriander, the turmeric powder, and the red chili powder. Give the mixture a really good stir.
- At this juncture you can now add in the remaining ingredients, including the garam masala, the kasuri methi (also known as dried fenugreek leaves), cream, pineapple chunks, and raisins. Combine the ingredients well by giving the mixture a good stir.
- At this point, it’s time to examine the consistency of the dish, adding more water or a little milk if you wish to make it thinner. Or, alternatively, you can add more cream to give the dish more creaminess.
- We recommend serving this dish immediately, perhaps alongside a side dish such as chapati, jeera rice, paratha, poori, or naan bread.
The good news is that there are a range of different side dishes that you can serve alongside your navratan korma. Here’s a short list of ideas for you:
- Chapati
- Jeera rice
- Paratha
- Poori
- Roti
- Naan
All of these side dishes are suitable for vegetarians.
Here are a few tips and tricks to make your navratan korma the best ever:
- If you feel the pineapple chunks would make the curry too sweet, it’s perfectly OK to skip this step. But if you did want to include pineapple, it doesn’t have to be fresh, and it’s perfectly OK to use canned pineapple.
- You can adjust the amount of each spice to your particular taste. If you wish to retain the color of the gravy but still increase the heat of the dish, you can try adding in some chopped green chili, and/or some ground white pepper.
- If you want the dish to have more crunch, you may be interested in adding in some other nuts and seeds as well, such as almonds and/or pumpkin seeds.
- Similarly, you can also add in more raisins for a fruitier flavor.
- For an added hit of tomato, you can also consider including some chopped tomato into the onion cashew paste.
- If you’d prefer a thicker consistency of the gravy, you can add up to a tablespoon of either flour, cornflour, or almond meal, until you get the consistency you’re looking for, or alternatively boil the ingredients for longer, so that the excess moisture evaporates, the gravy reduces and becomes thicker.
Final Thoughts
And that’s a wrap, everybody. This authentic navratan korma recipe is a great crowd-pleaser and isn’t too hot, so even picky eaters can enjoy it.
That said, if your dinner guests are lactose, gluten, or nut intolerant or have a nut allergy, you will have to tweak the recipe to meet their requirements.
We’re sure that by this point, you’ll be eager to get started, and we trust that the instructions and guidelines provided are self-explanatory.
Frequently Asked Questions
The navratan korma is one of the more mild Indian curries, with little heat given off unless you want to add more. This makes it a great curry for those who don’t like their curries too hot.
It’s also quite sweet and fruity, given the addition of ingredients such as raisins and pineapple.
It’s also very creamy, and a little nutty as well, thanks to the addition of the onion cashew butter and cream.
Is Vegetable Korma Healthy?
As mentioned in the recipe lowdown, this navratan korma recipe comes in at 365 calories, which is very reasonable. However, if you want to take side dishes into consideration as well, then this will increase the calorie content of the meal.
That said, the recipe is entirely meat-free, so you don’t have to worry about too much red meat. And there are also a lot of fresh vegetables in the curry which can provide you with plenty of fiber for better digestion, not to mention lots of beneficial vitamins and minerals.
How Long Can You Store Korma In The Refrigerator?
We recommend that when you make this navratan korma recipe, you serve it immediately. However, if you do find that you have a little leftover, you will find that it will be safe in your refrigerator, for up to 3 days, provided that it is stored in an airtight container.
That said, however, we do not recommend freezing this recipe for use at a later date.
Although navratan korma is a vegetable korma rather than a meat-based one, this recipe is vegetarian rather than vegan, because it features paneer cheese, a dairy product containing lactose, and cream as well, another dairy product containing lactose.
However, the good news is that you can easily convert this recipe so that it becomes suitable for the lactose-intolerant and vegans. All you have to do is skip the paneer cheese, maybe replacing it with more diced vegetables, and replacing the regular cream with either some cashew cream or some full-fat coconut milk or coconut cream.
No, navratan korma contains cashew nuts, meaning it is not nut-free. However, you can tweak this recipe to make it nut-free, by skipping the cashews. You can also replace them with some melon seeds (also known as magaz), or with some poppy seeds.
Is Korma Supposed To Be Spicy?
While korma does contain some spice, it is one of the mildest Indian curries out there. But you can always add more spice or chili if you so wish.
Is Korma High In Sugar?
In and of itself, a korma is not particularly high in sugar. That said, however, you also need to consider what side dishes you serve alongside the korma. A Peshwari naan bread for example is very high in sugar.
Can I Eat Korma On A Diet?
You can certainly enjoy this navratan korma when on a diet for weight loss, since it is quite healthy, and relatively low in calories and sugar. Even diabetics are safe to eat this recipe.
