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Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe – Step by Step

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Easy and tasty recipe for Navratan Korma or Navaratna Kurma. I love kurmas (or kormas, for those of you who feel that’s the way it should be spelled). The ones I grew up eating had lots of coconut or coconut milk in them as you would expect, since the growing up happened in Kerala.

A bit about Navratna Korma although I don’t usually like doing yada yada (get to the recipe already!), but this dish is seriously interesting. Navratan means nine jewels and this dish is supposed to contain a mix of 9 fruits, vegetables and fried nuts. In true Mughlai cuisine fashion, cream (or cashew nut paste) is added to form the gravy. This is different from the less rich coconut based mixed vegetable curry from South India.

I have seen quite a few variations in the 9 items used by different restaurants. TH is quite the spoilsport, he doesn’t like it when sweet stuff is mixed with spicy (Ok, I admit, I am like that too, there’s a reason why I married that guy) so I didn’t add pineapple to my version, which is quite a popular “ratna” to add to Navratan Korma. Since we also don’t like biting into raisins in our curries, and I really couldn’t omit all the sweet stuff, I ground it into the paste. Genius, eh?

Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe

Looking for more side dishes with vegetables? Check out: mixed vegetable saagu, vegetable korma, matar paneer recipe, paneer korma recipe. 

Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 cups of diced, mixed vegetables – I used carrot, beans, peas, corn and potato (cauliflower will be nice too!)
A few cubes of paneer
10 cashew nuts and 10 raisins soaked in warm water, drained and ground to a paste
1 large onion, minced
1 tomato, quartered and pureed
3 green chillies
1″ piece of ginger
4 garlic cloves (or use 1 tsp ginger garlic paste)
1 tsp tomato paste (or use another pureed tomato)
1 cup milk
1 tbsp butter (or ghee)
Salt to taste

The Spice Powders:
2 tsp garam masala (or use 1 tsp freshly ground masala like cloves, cardamom, cinnamon)
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp jeera

Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe

Sidenote: I got these blue flexible chopping boards from IKEA the other day and totally love them. Yeah they scratch easily but don’t they make an awesome background for the ‘ingredients picture’?

How to Make Navratan Korma:

Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe

1. Heat the butter or ghee in a kadai / pan.

Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe

2. Add minced onions and fry until pink and transparent.

Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe

3. Grind the green chillies with the ginger and garlic and add to the onions. If using ginger garlic paste, just crush the chillies and add along with it. Fry for 30 seconds.

Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe

4. Add all the spice powders. Fry for a minute.

Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe

5. In go the pureed tomato and the tomato paste

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6. Mix well and let it cook until the butter appears on the sides (about 4-5 mins)

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7. Add milk and about 1/2 cup of water, more or less.

Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe

8. Add the chopped vegetables. Mix well an cook covered for another 5 mins or so, until the vegetables are cooked, yet firm.

Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe

9. Add the cashew nut-raising paste and mix well. Add salt and paneer cubes. Cook open for another 5 minutes until the gravy thickens and comes together.

Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe

Garnish Navratan korma with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot as a side dish chapati, tawa nan, roti, or pulao. This is a korma recipe that’ll surely wow your guests.

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  5. I tried it today…it came out nicely. Great recipe with pictures. A small suggestion…don't use cutting boards made of plastic..replace them with bamboo or some wooden boards if possible.

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  8. Just made this, followed everything by letter except for not making paste but minced ginger & garlic and used whole cashews and raisins (because we love them). Also didn't have garam masala, just added some cumin along with chili powder and turmeric. It is P.E.R.F.E.C.T. Thank you so much for this recipe!

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  9. I tried this recipe last weekend and it turned out delicious! loved by family and friends alike. Thanks for the wonderful recipe. You have a lovely blog!
    Vincy

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  12. Tried it today and turned out awesome. Just a hint of sweeteness not overpowering. Thanks a lot for the 'keeper' recipe.

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  19. awesome. so glad you liked our favourite kurma recipe. a cousin of mine always orders navratan kurma in any restaurant we go to!

    Reply

  20. Hi,

    I tried your navratan kurma recipe and it turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!!

    -Nandini

    Reply

  26. That looks so lovely… Your step by step is helpful. A less complicated navratan kurma as against many recipes i have come across.. Wud certainly like to try ur version.

    Reply

  33. Yum. This looks like a great recipe, nags. Your paneer butter masala is a staple in my "North Indian food" arsenal. Hope to try this out soon. I ate Navratan a long time back in bombay, I want to say it was at the old Centaur Hotel. My cousin and I spent the whole night trying to count all 9 veggies. Unrelated – great minds think alike – I hate sweet in my curry too! Cheers!

    Reply

  49. I made this over a month back. If you come for dinner tonight, it will be dried out chapati with pickle out of a bottle but do join! The more the merrier 😀

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