Vegan Navratan Korma (Vegetables with luscious White Korma Sauce)

Restaurant-Style Baked Vegan Navratan Korma made in the oven using just one dish! Tofu and veggies in rich cashew cream sauce served with chopped nuts and raisins! Serve with rice or naan. Glutenfree , options for Soyfree and nutfree

Continuing with amazingly delicious Indian recipes and converting them to casseroles! Navratan korma:  This saucy nutty multi texture dish is a personal favorite of mine and perfect for festive occasions. It usually takes multiple steps and pans. But With this 1 casserole version, it is much easier to make on a weekday.

In the Hindi language, ‘Nav’ means nine and ‘ratan’ means a jewel. So the English translation of navratan korma is nine jewels, which in the dish mean nine main ingredients(not including spices :)). Korma or kurma (South Indian version) comes with various sauces and textures and is a dish that is traditionally made with cream or yogurt, nuts, and seeds. Navratan Korma also has pineapple and pomegranate. Kurmas are lighter and often feature coconut, poppy seeds and other ingredients.

This thick and creamy white Korma is preferred in Indian restaurants in India and some more traditional/authentic restaurants outside of India. Indian restaurants anywhere else in the world can serve either the cream version or a tomato cream version.

I use tofu and veggies in this Korma. It gets baked, not cooked so it is super hands-off. The baked version reduces the steps and the pans needed significantly. We bake the veggies and the sauce ingredients together in one casserole dish and then add the cream base ingredients and mix it in and bake again and done! When making this on a stovetop, you’d have to toast the spices, make the sauce separately, cook the veggies separately, and then mix everything and cook again, then toast nuts in another pan for garnish.

I add a touch of tomato purée to add a hint of color and to cut the overall heavy creamy flavor with a bit of tang. Read the recipe notes for most substitution questions.

This recipe is adapted from the white Navratan Korma from my Indian kitchen cookbook. 

Why you will love this vegan Navratan Korma!

• all the authentic flavor and less work
• It’s baked in 1 Dish! When made on stovetop, you’d have to toast the spices, make the sauce separately, cook the veggies separately, and then mix everything and that means several pans
• Its rich and decadent and perfect to serve for special occasions
• its not spicy hot. It’s a creamy sweet curry
• Serve it with my stuffed Naan for a memorable meal
• You can add more tomato purée for a creamy Tomato korma
• Change up the veggies for variation. Use chickpeas to make soyfree
• You can make it without nuts! See recipe notes
• You can make it without onion and garlic , see recipe notes

MORE INDIAN COMFORT FOOD

• Baked tofu makhani 
• Baked Madras curry Tofu
• Baked vegetable Curry Casserole
• Baked Balti Veggies
• Butter Tofu
• IP Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce
• Tofu in Spinach Curry
• Vegetable Jalfrezi

Ingredients:

• Cloves, bay leaves, cardamom pods, fenugreek leaves, cinnamon stick, are the whole spices
• Finely chopped ginger garlic and chopped onion make the volume of the sauce
• vegetables: cauliflower, potatoes, green beans, carrots, zucchini, peas
•  firm or extra-firm tofu adds some protein. or use more veggies or chickpeas
• For the ground spices: ground coriander, cumin, cardamom, cayenne or Indian red chili powder
• the sauce is a mix of water, cooked onion ginger garlic, and cashews and is thickened with a bit of flour
•  salt and sugar for the perfect balance of flavors
• we add nuts such as cashews and pistachios as well as raisins

Tips:

• Usually, there’s also 2-3 tablespoons of chopped pineapple added to korma. I don’t particularly like pineapple in the Korma so I don’t add it. You can add it if you like.
• You can also garnish the korma with some fresh pomegranate seeds and some pepper flakes.
• To make this nut-free, use 3/4 cup of silken tofu and blend it with two cups of water instead of half a cup of cashews and two and a half cups of water. You can also use 3/4 cup of non-dairy yogurt instead. Or use a mix of seeds (pumpkin, hemp and melon seeds)
• To make this Soyfree– use 15 oz can chickpeas or just more vegetables instead of tofu

How to make Indian Navratan Korma:

In a large baking dish, 10 by 14 inches or similar size, add 1 tsp oil and spread evenly. To one half of the baking dish, add the onion ginger garlic mixture. To half of that onion ginger mixture, add in the whole spices and fenugreek leaves and mix in.

To the rest of the baking dish, add the vegetables and tofu. Then in a small bowl, mix your ground spices. The coriander, cumin, cardamom, cayenne and salt and then sprinkle it all over the vegetables.

Drizzle oil all over the vegetables as well as the onion mixture. Toss well and spread the vegetables evenly. Add in sprinkles of water to help the spices stick to the veggies if needed.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (206 degrees Celsius ) for 25-30 minutes or until the onions starts to turn golden. Stir once in between. Remove the pan from the oven, transfer half of the onion mixture into a blender. Transfer the half which does Not have the whole spices.

Add the water, cashews, salt, sugar, and blend until the mixture is incredibly smooth. I usually blend it for a minute then let it sit then blend again for two to three cycles. So that the cashews are blended into the water really well.

Then add that blended sauce to the pan. Optionally add  3 tbsp tomato purée or 1 tbsp paste, and mix everything really well.

Put it back in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the sauce thickens and the vegetables are cooked to preference.

The sauce might thicken too much so you can add 1/2 to 1 cup more of non-dairy milk while it’s still baking in the last five minutes or so, or add when you just take the pan out of the oven and mix in. Taste and adjust salt and flavor.

You can also add in a few strands of saffron to a quarter cup of warm milk and then add that to the dish for even more flavor.

Toast the nuts and raisins in the oil in a small skillet over medium heat until the nuts are golden. Then add half of them to the Korma and mix in and use the other half for garnishing.

How to store navratan Korma

Store refrigerated for upto 3 days. Freeze for upto a month. Reheat in a skillet with additional non dairy milk as needed

What to serve with Navratan Korma

Serve the Korma with Naan (regular or glutenfree) tandoori roti, roti or flatbread or rice.