Navratan korma step-by-step recipe with video and photos.
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About this recipe
Navratan means nine gems – in this dish, it’s nine vegetables and fruits. A combination of nuts, paneer (cottage cheese), and your favourite vegetables in a mild creamy gravy is a match made in heaven. This mildly spicy medley of vegetables and paneer is very flavourful and aromatic.
You can use an array of vegetables to make this dish. Here, I have used potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, peas, beans, and capsicum. These vegetables plus paneer, pineapple, nuts, and raisins are the ‘nine gems’ I have used to make this curry. You can replace potatoes with sweet potatoes if you prefer. The vegetables I have used here works really well. You may, however, choose to experiment with other vegetables like baby corn, broccoli, mushroom, etc.
What is Korma
Korma or qorma is a dish that originates from central Asia and is made with yogurt, nuts, and cream or milk (or coconut milk). Korma has its roots in Mughlai cuisine and can be made with either meat or vegetables.
This curry is very mild and uses mostly whole spices. It is a great alternative if you prefer mildly spiced curries. Korma is usually associated with “shahi” which means royal and that is the main characteristic of any korma.
Ingredients
Vegetables: I used a mix of potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, beans, peas, and capsicum. I parboil all vegetables except for capsicum as parboiling the capsicum will turn them mushy.
Nuts: I make a paste with almonds and cashew to make the curry creamy and rich. I also use a few chopped almonds and cashew in the curry to add texture.
Whole spices: The whole spices I use are black cumin seeds (shah jeera), cinnamon, black cardamom, cardamom, cloves, mace, and bay leaves.
Onions: I boil the onions along with the nuts and make a paste for the curry base.
Ghee: This dish tastes best when made with ghee; however, it can be replaced with any cooking oil of your choice.
Pineapple and paneer: Pineapple adds a mild sweetness to the dish. You may either add paneer directly or you may shallow-fry them before adding.
Tips for making best navratan korma
Parboil the vegetables and discard the water. We do not want any vegetable to overpower this rather mild dish.
Do not parboil the capsicum. Capsicum cooks very quickly and if you parboil the capsicum, they can turn very mushy.
Do not skip the pineapples even though it is an optional ingredient. They add a mild sweetness to the dish making it very flavourful and delicious.
Soak the poppy seeds before grinding it. This will help in grinding it into a smooth paste.
I make this dish creamy by using nuts and poppy seeds. However, you may also use cream to add richness and creamy texture.
Serving suggestions
Navratan korma goes very well with both rice dishes and flatbread. Since it is quite mild, it tastes very good with biryani too. Here are some dishes you can pair this royal dish with.
Pair this with flatbreads, pulao, or simply steamed basmati rice. Without a doubt, this royal dish is here to please!
For more curry recipes, click here.
Navratan korma recipe video
Navratan korma step-by-step recipe with photos
1. Parboil the potatoes, carrot, peas, cauliflower, and beans
2. Boil onions and soaked nuts for 2-3 minutes. Drain and let the onions cool down completely
3. Heat 1 tsp ghee in a small pan and fry the remaining almonds, cashew, and raisins
4. Grind together the onion, yogurt, cashew, almond, and poppy seeds to make a smooth paste
5. Heat ghee, add shah jeera and whole spices
6. Add the ginger paste and green chillis and cook for a couple of minutes
7. Add the ground paste and mix
8. Cook on low flame until the oil starts to separate from the gravy
9. Add capsicum and 1 cup of water. Simmer for 2-3 minutes
10. Add all the parboiled vegetables, salt, pineapple, and paneer. Mix gently
11. Once the vegetables are cooked, add garam masala
12. Add the fried almonds, cashew, and raisins
Navratan korma
Ingredients
To Grind:
For the gravy:
Instructions
Video
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