Navratan Korma / Navaratna Kurma Recipe - Step by Step

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
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 teaspoon ginger garlic paste)
1 teaspoon tomato paste (or use another pureed tomato)
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter (or ghee)
Salt to taste

The Spice Powders:
2 teaspoon garam masala (or use 1 teaspoon freshly ground masala like cloves, cardamom, cinnamon)
½ teaspoon red chilli powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon 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 ½ 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.