Vegetarian Vegetable Korma
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Curl up with a bowl of the ultimate comfort food – a flavorful, warming curry. This vegetable korma ticks all the boxes: it has a flavor-packed, rich, and creamy sauce made with yogurt and a blend of aromatic spices, blended cashews, coconut milk, and an assortment of vibrant, fresh vegetables.
Why is vegetable korma such a great comfort food? Something about the warming, earthy spices or the vibrant color brings a little vitality to every spoonful. This vegetarian korma features fresh vegetables and skips the heavy cream, instead using blended cashews for a creamy texture. It’s one of those recipes that the whole family will adore.
What is vegetable korma?
Korma is a delicious Indian curry characterized by a rich and creamy sauce made from a blend of aromatic spices, yogurt, nuts, coconut milk, and a variety of vegetables. Its flavor-packed sauce has made it a beloved dish around the world. This vegetable korma recipe uses a variety of fresh veggies, but you can also add tofu, or for a meat version, chicken or another preferred protein.
Ingredients needed
This version of vegetable korma skips the ghee or heavy cream, but uses blended cashews and coconut milk for creaminess, offering a lighter alternative without compromising on the velvety consistency vegetable korma is associated with. This is what you need:
- Vegetables: Potatoes, onion, cauliflower, and carrots provide a variety flavors and textures, making the dish hearty and satisfying.
- Garlic and ginger: For depth of flavor and aroma.
- Tomato paste: Adds depth and a subtle tang to the sauce, complementing the richness of other ingredients.
- Spices: Curry powder, garam masala, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, ground cloves, fennel, fenugreek, and chili flakes create an aromatic spice profile.
- Coconut milk: Provides a creamy consistency for the korma sauce.
- Cashews: Contributes a creamy and nutty flavor.
- Lemon juice: Adds a burst of citrusy freshness, brightening the dish.
- Yogurt: Introduces a tangy element and a creamy texture, balancing the spices.
- Brown sugar: Sweetens the sauce to round out the flavors.
What vegetables to use in vegetable korma
Vegetarian korma is really flexible – you can mix and match the veggies and use whatever you like or have on hand. Potatoes are a hearty and delicious addition! Cauliflower florets, carrots, green beans, and bell peppers all work well. Peas offer a little burst of sweetness, or add some spinach for a leafy green. We opt for fresh vegetables, however, frozen vegetables will taste great, too! Be aware that frozen vegetables often have a little more moisture if they’ve gotten icy in the freezer, meaning the curry will be a bit thinner.
What to serve with vegetable korma
Make some cauliflower rice, basmati rice, coconut rice, or some quinoa to soak up the beautiful sauce of the vegetable korma, and serve with some naan or roti.
For some Indian inspired appetizers, start the meal with some curried carrots or turmeric cauliflower.
If you’re making a spread of warming curries, serve this vegetable korma alongside our eggplant curry with chickpeas and tofu.
Recipe FAQs
Can I use cashew butter instead of cashews?
Using cashew butter from a jar works well in curry recipes, but the final result can vary in taste. A cashew butter will add a bit more flavor as it is roasted.
Can I store leftovers?
Yes, leftovers store well. Keep your leftover vegetable korma in the fridge in an airtight container. Avoid using potatoes if you want to freeze the vegetable korma as they will turn gritty once frozen – substitute with other vegetables instead.
Vegetable Korma Recipe
Ingredients
The Veggies
- 2 medium potatoes (cut into small, bite-sized pieces)
- 4 cups mixed chopped vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, beans, bell peppers, corn, and peas all work well)
The Vegetarian Korma Sauce
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 2 inch piece of ginger (peeled and chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (smashed with the back of a knife)
- 5.5 ounce can of tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon EACH: curry powder and garam masala
- 1 ½ teaspoons EACH: cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom
- 1-2 teaspoons sea salt
- ½ teaspoon EACH: ground cloves, fennel, fenugreek, and chili flakes
- 1 can coconut milk
- ½ cup cashews
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ cup yogurt (omit or use vegan yogurt for vegan)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar (sub coconut sugar or honey for paleo)
- Top with any or all: cashews, cilantro, lemon, and raisins
Instructions
- Add the potatoes to a medium-sized pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Let the potatoes boil for 5 minutes then add the rest of the veggies to the pot. Let them boil for another 5 minutes then drain the pot and set it aside.2 medium potatoes, 4 cups mixed chopped vegetables
- While the veggies are cooking, start preparing the vegetarian korma sauce. Heat the oil in a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for 2 minutes more.1 tablespoon oil, 1 large onion, 2 inch piece of ginger, 4 cloves garlic
- Remove the pot from the heat and add the tomato paste and all of the spices. Stir well then return the pot to the heat. When the spices are fragrant and the tomato paste caramelized, after about 1 minute, add the coconut milk, cashews, lemon juice and 1 ¼ cups of water. Let the pot boil for 5 minutes to soften the cashews.5.5 ounce can of tomato paste, 1 tablespoon EACH: curry powder and garam masala, 1 ½ teaspoons EACH: cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, ½ teaspoon EACH: ground cloves, fennel, fenugreek, and chili flakes, 1 can coconut milk, ½ cup cashews, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1-2 teaspoons sea salt
- Working in batches, blend the curry until it is smooth then add it back to the pot.½ cup yogurt, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, Top with any or all: cashews, cilantro, lemon, and raisins
- Stir through the yogurt and brown sugar and add more sea salt, if needed. Stir the veggies into the curry and serve immediately topped with any or all of the toppings.
Video
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
Made this last night and it was spectacular!! My husband and I go out for Indian food quite often, and this tastes just like a resturant dish! I’ll definitely be making it again! The only thing I think I’ll do differently is maybe soak the cashews overnight because the sauce was a bit “gritty” the first time around. Thank you for the delicious recipe!!
I’m so happy you like it! Yes, soaking the cashews will definitely help. 🙂
Hey, this South Indian Veggie Coconut Curry looking so yummy, we will try this at our restaurant in Brampton. Will let you know the feedback later. Cheers for nice info.
I hope you like it as much as we do!
Have made this 3 times now. I am a huge curry fan!
And this is very authentic! Seems to have become the family favourite! Which is good, i don’t usually make kormas but this is really really good!
Keep up the good work, will be trying the other recipes out for sure!
Thank you so much! I’m so happy to hear you like the recipe!!
I’ve just made this and followed it to the T and am desperately trying to save my huge pot due to the amount of cardamom! All I can taste is cardamom. I eat a lot of Indian and do you really think this amount of cardamom is correct? I like every other part of this recipe but I think .5 of a teaspoon of cardamom would be more than enough.
I’m sorry to hear you found the cardamom flavor too strong. It is the correct amount. I like it this way. 🙂
I haven’t made this yet, but the amount of cardamom listed gave me pause too, as many recipes including cardamom cakes don’t even call for this much. I’ve found in particular there are varying degrees of strength to cardamom powders on the market. Mine is actually very potent (Frontier) so I would use maybe a 1/4-1/2 tsp for this recipe. But I’m looking forward to making this dish, it looks delicious.
If you know yours is more potent than most then it’s a good idea to reduce the amount. 🙂
Perfect. Didn’t use sugar. 5/5
I’m so happy to hear you liked it!
This is the best Korma I’ve ever eaten and I can’t belbelieve eve I made it!
That makes me so happy to hear! Hooray!!
Just curious, recipe directions mention sea salt, but the ingredient list does not. How much sea salt? Can’t wait to try this! 🙂
Oh man, how did I miss that! I usually add 2 teaspoons, but I like things quite salty. I’ve indicated in the recipe 1-2 teaspoons. 🙂
I used greek yogurt and ruined it 🙁 mistakenly grabbed the wrong yogurt out of the fridge. can’t get rid of the tang no matter what I do! Glad I tried this recipe on myself before making it for others!! I’ll try again another time with heavy cream or just regular yogurt.
I’m so sorry to hear you didn’t like the tang of Greek yogurt!
Still delicious tho!!!! Became a staple recipe already! Boyfriend loves it.
Yum! Easy to make despite the number of spices etc. Used up all the veggies I needed to in it. I steamed the veggies and served curry with saffron rice. Everyone liked it.
I’m so happy to hear it was a hit!
It doesn’t specific but is the fennel whole or ground?
It’s ground!
So this is the second recipe I tried from your site. I tried the butter chicken recipe and it turned out fantastic, so when I was looking for a korma recipe, yours was the one I went to… and let me tell you, I am glad I did! I made a few minor adjustments- I omitted the fenugreek because I didn’t have any, I only used 1/4 tsp fennel because my husband isn’t a fan, and I only used 1/8 tsp chili flakes because my kids don’t like too much heat. I also didn’t have any cashews (which I would have added if I did) The vegetables I used were: 2 cups cubed squash, 3 cups cubed yam, and a 540 ml can of chickpeas because this was what i had in my fridge. Thank you again for such a good recipe!
I’m so happy to hear you’re liking the recipes here! Hooray!!
I made this for dinner and it was really great! So tasty and well balanced! I was a bit afraid that with the amount of spices it would be on the bitter side, but not at all. It was really good. I will make it again for sure.
I used up all my veggies in the fridge: carott, red pepper, snow peas, peas, broccoli and cauliflower (cauliflower works really well in this) and served it with white rice.
Get ya pretty darn close to what you taste from a true Indian cook. There’s just a few tweaks I wanna play with. I’m pondering heavy cream, and slightly less coconut milk. Also the lemon caught me strong up front, and the clove seemed slightly too present. There was a slight bitterness too that I couldn’t counter with more brown sugar, and I believe that’s from the turmeric. So I’m gonna play around a little next time, and if I hit anything great, it’d be according to my girlfriend, then I’ll post my new thoughts! Really appreciate this information posted here! It still tastes great, I’m just an over thinker.
I think the best part about cooking is playing around with recipes! Do let me know if you come across a great combo!
I just made this for my family, including the kiddos, and it was a big hit! Pure gold. Thank you for sharing the love.
I’m so happy your whole family loved it!!
Sounds amazing, can’t wait to try this! Thoughts on whether this would make good slow cooker/crock pot recipe? Like maybe at least tripling? Would love to make this for a giant group for a holiday party. Thanks!!
If you were able to keep a close eye on it, it may work in a crock pot. Last year I tried many times to make a veggie curry recipe in a crock pot but the vegetables always got too soft and broke down to mush. I would be afraid the same would happen here.
I successfully made in a crockpot yesterday! I added chicken and set it on low for 6 hours. About an hour in, I added the potatoes and veggies (potatoes probably needed the full 6 hrs 🙂 ). Veggies weren’t mushy at all. Great recipe!!
That is so great to hear! Thank you so much for letting us know!!
Hi Natalie! Very excited to see you made this in the crock pot! Nice way to meld the flavors together. Which veggies did you use? Just curious which I should pick so that they will cook in the 5-hour time that yours did also. Thank you!
Too much perfum in recipe, first of all garam masala already has clove which is why I make my own garam masala without clove. Then you add half teaspoon of more clove, and then you add 1.5 teaspoon of cardamom which again is in garam masala including my recipe. The max total cardomom used in a recipe should be 2 green pod and 2 black pods that is garam masala inclusive. Some people also find coriander taste like soap, but nothing we can do about that. Your cumin to coriander ratio is off for korma; should be much more coriander. 3 Tablespoons of coriander, half teaspoon cumin, half teaspoon tumeric
I’m curious … have you actually made the recipe? Or are you just letting us know the way that you prefer to make korma?
I’m curious about that too. Wonder if Scott will reply.