Navratan Korma

You might also like these recipes for navratan pulao and vegetable korma. A Navratan Korma is what Indians call a “shahi” dish: a food so sumptuous that it is fit for royalty. In this recipe, cashews and raisins melt into a luxurious, silky, creamy white sauce that coats perfectly cooked and tender cauliflower, carrots, green beans and potatoes. It’s a dish you might imagine yourself eating at a fine restaurant or in a palatial dining room with that extinct species called an Indian maharaja. 😉 Navratan Korma comes from what is known in India as Mughlai cuisine – the cuisine of the mughuls or moghuls, Persian invaders who set up vast empires across the Indian continent (Shahjahan, who built the Taj Mahal, was one of them). Mughlai cuisine has a distinct flavor and even distinct aromas of its own, and it generally uses lots of meat, nuts and dry fruits – all ingredients that, in those days, were more accessible, perhaps, only to royalty. The word “navratan” literally translates to “the nine gems,” and the story goes that the name of this dish possibly derives from the Mughal emperor Akbar’s nine famous and talented courtiers referred to as “navratan” or the nine gems. Another story attributes the name to the fact that the dish is supposed to be a melange of nine vegetables. There is even a navratan pulao, a rice dish with many similar flavors as the korma. Despite these hallowed antecedents and associations, Navratan Korma is a rather accessible dish to even those of us who are not royalty. It is not a difficult dish to make and you do not need nine types of veggies (although you could certainly use them). And although there are a few separate steps involved, befitting a royal dish, it should take you no more than an hour to cook up.

A white sauce for navratan korma

While most Indian curries are yellow or red, the sauce of a navratan korma, when made properly, should be white. There is no turmeric in this recipe to color the sauce yellow. In my vegan Navratan Korma, I replace the cream with a ground paste of cashew nuts, which is a much healthier substitution and which goes perfectly with the fruits and spices. Check to get new recipe updates by email.

Vegetables for navratan korma

Traditionally, you’d use carrots, potatoes, green beans and green peas, but here’s one place where you can do some experimenting. I like adding jewel-colored bell peppers in here, and this time I left out the green peas. You can also use sweet potatoes and zucchini with good results. Raisins are used to add some sweetness to this royal dish, but you can substitute those with chopped fresh or canned pineapple.

Serving suggestions

The Navratan Korma is a thick curry so it’s best scooped up with a bread like a vegan naan or roti. But you can certainly serve it with basmati rice. It’d be spectacular with a very simple jeera rice.