Navratan Korma Recipe (Navratan Curry)

Navratan Korma is a delicious creamy and aromatic North Indian curry made with 9 different kinds of vegetables, dried fruits, nuts and fresh fruits. Navratan Korma is a popular dish from restaurants serving North Indian and Mughlai foods. This dish is a blend of flavors and textures and provides a nice balance to spicy and fiery vegetable or meat-based sides. Navratan Korma makes a delicious option for family gatherings or parties.

A perfect recipe for lunch or dinners, especially weekends when you want something different.

About Navratan Korma

The word “Navratan” is a blend of 2 words “Nav” and “ratan”. Nav is a Hindi word for number “nine” and ratan means “Gems”. So Navratan means nine gems and Korma is a curry made with a base of nuts, curd, coconut or seeds.

Navratan korma is a mild spiced vegetarian side dish containing nine items like vegetables, nuts and fruits in a creamy gravy.

Like many copycat restaurant recipes that have been adapted by home cooks, no navratan korma will exactly taste the same. You will find navratan korma so different in every restaurant.

Some places use milk and cashew melon paste to make the gravy and some use yogurt, nuts and poppy seeds paste. So there are numerous ways it is made with varying ingredients. But all navratan kormas taste sweetish and is made with a minimal use of ground spices.

As this dish is on the sweetish side, some home cooks try to make it a bit spicier by reaching for chili powder. Others skip the paneer or veganize with coconut milk and tofu.

This recipe with sweet and earthy notes is made the usual way by sautéing or steaming vegetables and simmering them in an onion and nut based paste.

Mild whole spices add much needed flavor. Cashews, raisins and pineapple chunks add texture and a hint of sweetness to the dish.

Navratan korma can be served with plain rice or even with Chapati, paratha or roti. It also goes well with
Jeera rice
Ghee rice
Kashmiri pulao
Veg pulao
plain paratha

About this recipe

While my recipe has nine ingredients, you can skip or swap with vegetables you have on hand. I have used carrots, potato, cauliflower, beans, peas, almonds, cashews and paneer. Lastly garnished with pomegranate arils.

While this may seem like a lot of ingredients and work involved, my recipe is quite uncomplicated. Make this a part of your weekly meal plan when you want substantial gravy to go with your rotis, parathas, chapatis, or even with veg pulao, ghee rice or jeera rice.

To give credit where it’s due, this is adapted from the recipe by Vahchef.

How to Make Navratan Korma (Stepwise photos)

Preparation

Chop the vegetables and paneer and prep the nuts, milk and spices.

1. Boil 2-3 cups of water in a pan. Add 1 cup of cubed onions and 12 to 15 cashews.

2. Cook for 2-3 minutes. The onions will be half cooked. Remove onions and cashews with slotted spoon to a colander and set aside to cool.

3. Place the pan back on the stovetop and add ¾ cup of cauliflower florets to the hot water.

4, Remove the florets to a colander after 2 to 3 minutes. Rinse them well under running water.

5. Discard the water and add fresh water to the pot to steam veggies. Add a colander on top and add ¾ cup of chopped potatoes to it. When they are half cooked, add ½ cup of beans, ½ cup of carrots, and ½ cup of peas. Steam until soft and tender but not mushy.

6. In the meantime, add the half-cooked onions and cashews to a blender along with 1or 2 chopped green chilies.

7. Blend to a fine paste without adding water.

8. Next, sauté ¾ cup of cubed paneer in a saucepan for 1 or 2 minutes along with almonds and raisins, and set aside. This step is optional and you can add the cottage cheese, dry fruits and nuts directly while cooking.

Make Navratan Korma

7. Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan on high heat (Add less oil as per your preference). Reduce the heat to low and add these ingredients:
2 cardamoms
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
½ teaspoon cumin seeds

8. Sauté for 30-60 seconds until the seeds splutter. Add ¾ teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste (or 1/3 teaspoon of ginger paste) and sauté until the raw smell is gone.

9. Now is the time to add the cashew-onion paste.

10. Fry the paste until it starts leaving the sides of the pan. Add these ingredients to the pan:
a pinch of turmeric
½ teaspoon red chili powder
¾ teaspoon coriander powder
¼ teaspoon garam masala

Skip red chili if you prefer to keep this mild spicy.

11. Sauté until the paste begins to release oil. Add salt as per preference (start with ½ teaspoon).

12. Add 1 cup of water and mix well to combine.

13. Let the curry simmer and cook to a thick consistency. Then add the steamed veggies. Taste test and adjust the salt. Mix well and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on a low heat.

14. Now reduce the heat to low and add ¼ cup of cream and stir to combine.

15. Add paneer, 6 almonds, 6 cashews and 1 tablespoon of raisins.

16. Cover with lid and cook on low flame for 1 to 2 minutes. Don’t cook for longer as it will harden the paneer making it chewy. If you’ve already cooked the paneer, just add the ingredients and cover. Don’t continue cooking.

17. Switch off the stove and add some chopped coriander leaves. Let cool down slightly and then add pineapple chunks, if using.

Transfer the navratan korma to serving bowls and garnish with pomegranate seeds. Garnish with roasted cashews and raisins for a richer dish, if desired.

More Restaurant style recipes,
Aloo gobi masala
Dum aloo
Paneer lababdar

Pro Tips

• I haven’t used yogurt or milk in this recipe. But you can always use one of them. To incorporate milk or yogurt, simply blend the onions and cashews with either ¼ cup yogurt or ¼ cup milk to a smooth paste.
• Yogurt adds a mild tang to the korma and milk adds a different rich flavor.
• To make the recipe vegan, use more cashews, skip cream and paneer. Or you can also substitute cream with coconut cream and paneer with tofu.
• A lot of restaurants use canned pineapple for garnish. They taste sweet & delicious because they are canned with sugar syrup. If using fresh pineapple make sure it is ripe and sweet. Also adding sour pineapple is likely to split your korma since cream has been added to it.
• Skip the chili powder for a milder korma. Alternately add black pepper.
• Don’t overcook the paneer. You may add it directly to the hot gravy.

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Recipe from Archives. First published in Dec 2015. Updated and republished in October 2021.