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
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
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:
1. Heat the butter or ghee in a kadai / pan.
2. Add minced onions and fry until pink and transparent.
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.
4. Add all the spice powders. Fry for a minute.
5. In go the pureed tomato and the tomato paste
6. Mix well and let it cook until the butter appears on the sides (about 4-5 mins)
7. Add milk and about 1/2 cup of water, more or less.
8. Add the chopped vegetables. Mix well an cook covered for another 5 mins or so, until the vegetables are cooked, yet firm.
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.
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.
awesome tasty dish
nice
Awesome recipe.. Always a hit! Thank you..
Simply Amazing!! My husband and I totally relished it! Thanks for sharing!!
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.
I made it today,its tasty. thanku for the recipe..
Prepared this for my wife and came out the best i have ever made. Extremely easy to prepare. Added tamarind and brown sugar.
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!
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
subha
Awesome nag.thank you.keep in touch.
excellent,nice aroma
Tried it today and turned out awesome. Just a hint of sweeteness not overpowering. Thanks a lot for the 'keeper' recipe.
nice
awesome.my whole family member liked this
taste.
trying it now 🙂
ooh! just what i need for a sunday lunch invite. great job with the pictures…makes it so much easier than just reading the process. Thanks!
Hai what an presentation, its very easy to understand. keep up the good job.
Hi Thank you so much for the recipe. I appreciate your efforts. Keep it up.
We love your recipes.
awesome. so glad you liked our favourite kurma recipe. a cousin of mine always orders navratan kurma in any restaurant we go to!
Hi,
I tried your navratan kurma recipe and it turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!!
-Nandini
Hi Nags,
I tried this recipe last week and it was a big hit. I served it with store bought parottas and my husband just loved it.
Do visit my blog when you find sometime. I just started blogging. Hoping to add more posts.
http://recipecongeries.blogspot.com
thanks! making it tonight!!!!
Thank you for a great idea for dinner 🙂
Hi,
I tried this today and it turned out awesome,
thanks alot
nice nags… hardly been blog hopping off late… just a week left in India 🙁 anyways, love this kurma, feel inspired to cook this one.
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.
I have tried this long time back and blogged it too.. ur version sounds good.will try sometime 🙂
Beautiful pic. I love mixing up sweet and spicy….which makes this one of my fave curries.
We are like TH (and you!) – don't like sweet in our spice 😉
The gravy looks yummy and am sure this is a real gem of a recipe
Mmm, this looks delicious. We love Indian food, but we have never made a Korma before. Thanks for the recipe!
Delicious !!..love the step by step pics..
http://usmasala.blogspot.com/
I recently cooked Navratan kurma, loved it! even i skipped pineapple though raisin was very well in it 🙂 beautiful first click!
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!
Delicious, a serious favorite of mine!
wow i love the color & the curry look delicious nags ……
Just love this kurma with jeera rice, gorgeous looking kurma..
very nice blog and have book marked it,come know about other recipes of hyderabad only at crazyhyderabad.com
This looks great, and so simple! Would it also be good with coconut milk??
Hi,
This looks yummy! And really appreciate the step by step photos!
Wow!!Wow!! Awesome recipe! Looks yum!!
as u said, i too dont like the addition of pineapple in this, this idea of adding raisins is very good,and love the korma and ur click.
Hmmm…even i don't like the pine apple pieces spoiling the korma , a few raisins can be tolerated though.
You picture looks great as always ….
Looks yum..I do the same thing …grind the raisins 🙂
Awesome pic…I never liked this in restaurants because of the overdose of sweetness, but your version sounds good…
Looks very yummy….one of my fav curries..planning to make this from a while
What a lovely looking navaratan korma, my husband's favorite. But, I am ok with it as it is very mild and I like spicy stuff 🙂
OMG…love it love it love it…can I come over for dinner? Please..
Not only Mughals, I love it too.
lovely presentation nags.. looks delicious..
Looks awesome nags .. one of my most fav one too..
I have tasted this once in a restaurant and totally loved it…I have a version too will post in sometime
I have tasted this long time back in North India and because of the sweet things I too dint liked it.this recipe sounds nice 🙂
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 😀