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    Home » Recipes » Vegetarian Dinner Party Recipes

    Published: May 27, 2020 | Last Modified: March 4, 2021 by Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju | This post may contain affiliate links. 💬 - 4 Comments

    Vegetable Korma (Veg Kurma)

    Dairy Free RecipesGluten Free RecipesVegan Recipes
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    Korma (or kurma) is a creamy curry made with coconut, ginger and garlic. This vegan mixed vegetable korma has potatoes and peas, and when served with flatbreads with roti or poori, can be a perfect candidate for a quick weeknight dinner!
    Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe

    My aunt always found a way to repurpose vegetables into delicious dishes. This vegetable korma (or veg kurma as we call it in our house) is one such dish. Technically, this is a "curry" made with a rich and creamy coconut base. We tend to always add potatoes and peas to our kurmas, but you can also add other vegetables - cauliflowers, carrots, green beans all taste great.

    This post contains helpful tips and tricks! If you're in a rush, please use the "Jump to Recipe" link!

    This post might contain affiliate links. If you click on those and make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    📌Pin this recipe for later!
    Pan with vegetable korma straight from the stovetop, with rotis on the side

    Jump to:
    • 📋 Vegetable korma ingredients
    • 🍲 Three tips for the perfect korma
    • 🥣 Storage & serving suggestions
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    📋 Vegetable korma ingredients

    Vegetable korma is a creamy, coconut-based curry. My recipe is from South India and made with an assortment of hearty vegetables like potatoes, peas, carrots, cauliflowers and green beans and has a spice base made of coconut, ginger and garlic. In some cases, cashew nuts are also ground and added to the korma to give it a thicker, creamier consistency. FYI, korma is the North Indian way of saying it, and kurma is South Indian.

    Ingredients for korma laid out on a tray - tomatoes, onions, ginger, garlic, chili peppers chili powder, and coconut pulsed together into a spice base; boiled potatoes, peas, chopped onions, coconut cream, salt and cilantro

    🍲 Three tips for the perfect korma

    Choose the right vegetables

    Aloo korma is just potatoes; vegetable korma has other stuff thrown into the mix. As mentioned above, you can use most hearty vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, peas and green beans. You can also use just tomatoes, corn, and a wide variety of other vegetables in this dish. I've even seen legumes, especially chickpeas, thrown into this.

    Bowl of vegetable korma with some rice and a spoon

    Adjust the spice paste as you make it

    The spice paste, as with other Indian recipes on this blog, really makes or breaks the dish. But it's also super versatile, so you can adjust it as you make it. My spice paste uses desiccated coconut, ginger paste, garlic, red onions, Thai green chili and tomatoes.

    To make it less spicy and fresh, add more coconut. To make it spicier, add an extra chili pepper or dried Indian red chili peppers. If you can't find Thai chili peppers, you can use Serrano peppers. To make it more rich, you can add an extra tomato or onion. To make it creamy, add ¼ cup of cashews and ½ cup of water. Ultimately, you know your spice palette the best!

    Korma bowl with a spoon in it

    Use coconut cream to enhance the flavors

    Traditionally, this recipe is sometimes made with curd (i.e. plain yogurt) to give it more of a tangy finish or with heavy cream, to make it more rich. But my recipe is vegan and uses coconut cream to do a bit of both and also really enhance the coconut flavors in the korma.

    Roti with vegetable korma on a plate

    🥣 Storage & serving suggestions

    I love to serve this korma with Indian flatbread - mostly roti but sometimes naan, depending on the mood. This also tastes excellent with rice. One of my other favorite ways to eating vegetable korma is with a fried flatbread called poori - recipe for that coming soon, so stay tuned!

    I also love serving with korma with a kachumber salad, which adds a great refreshing touch to the creaminess of this dish. Of course, when I make it, I don't include cucumbers, but you can make them either way!

    If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag #urbanfarmie on Instagram or @urbanfarmie on Pinterest!

    📖 Recipe

    Close up of a pan with vegan mixed vegetable korma
    Print Recipe
    5 from 4 votes

    Vegetable Korma

    Korma (or kurma) is a creamy curry made with coconut, ginger and garlic. This vegan mixed vegetable korma has potatoes and peas, and when served with flatbreads with roti or poori, can be a perfect candidate for a quick weeknight dinner!
    Prep Time10 mins
    Cook Time30 mins
    Course: Dinner
    Cuisine: Indian
    Servings: 6 bowls
    Calories: 163kcal
    Author: Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju

    Equipment

    • Food Processor or Blender

    Ingredients

    Spice Base

    • ¼ cup coconut, shredded, unsweetened
    • 1 teaspoon ginger paste
    • 1 teaspoon minced garlic, substitute with 2 cloves of fresh garlic
    • 2 Thai green chili peppers, substitute with Serrano
    • 3 tomatoes, medium, chopped
    • ½ red onion, medium, chopped
    • 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, substitute with paprika as needed

    Korma Base

    • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
    • ½ red onion, medium, chopped
    • 2 teaspoon turmeric powder, divided
    • 1 cup coconut cream
    • 3 potatoes, boiled and mashed (medium size)
    • 2 cups frozen peas
    • 2 tablespoon cilantro, chopped, for garnish
    • 2 teaspoon salt, adjust to taste!

    Instructions

    Start by boiling potatoes

    • Add 1 teaspoon of turmeric to a medium pot with water
    • Peel the potatoes and quarter them into clean chunks
    • Add quartered potatoes to the pot and bring to a boil on medium heat for about 20 minutes until a fork is easily inserted into the potatoes
    • Drain the potatoes, mash and set aside

    Prepare the spice base

    • While potatoes are boiling, chop tomatoes, onions and chili peppers
    • Add shredded coconut, ginger paste, minced garlic, tomatoes, half the chopped onions, red chili powder, and Thai green chili peppers into a food processor or blender and pulse into a smooth paste

    Make vegetable korma

    • Heat some oil in a medium pot on medium flame
    • Add other half of chopped onions and saute until fragrant - about 3 minutes
    • Add the pulsed sauce to the sautéed onions along with the mashed potatoes and a cup of coconut cream, 2 teaspoons of salt, half a cup of water, and bring to a simmer (bubbles will start forming along the edges). Simmer for 3-5 minutes covered. Add the frozen peas at the very end and stir into the korma.
    • Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot!

    Notes

    • Peeling potatoes before boiling them in the turmeric infused water gives them a nice golden, yellow color. But if you don't have a peeler, or want to make things quicker, just pop them in with the skin on and then remove the skin once boiled - they usually slide right off! 
    • I only used potatoes and peas in this recipe but you're welcome to add cauliflower, carrots, corn, and any other hearty vegetables of your choice to round it out
    • If you can't find shredded coconut, that's fine - you can just use coconut cream and it'll still taste delicious, I promise. Likewise, if you can't find coconut cream - use coconut milk instead. Instead of using the coconut cream and water, use a can of coconut milk (14.5oz) 

    Nutrition

    Serving: 300g | Calories: 163kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 797mg | Potassium: 778mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1036IU | Vitamin C: 53mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 2mg
    Tried this recipe?Tag @urbanfarmie or #urbanfarmie to let me know – I would LOVE to see your creations!

    In the meantime, check out these other Indian recipes:

    • Chana Masala
    • Quick Jeera Rice (Indian Cumin Rice)
    • Simple Indian Dal Tadka
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Laura

      November 30, 2021 at 1:36 am

      This looks delicious! Are the mashed potatoes stirred into the dish at the end?

      Reply
      • Shruthi Baskaran

        November 30, 2021 at 4:00 am

        Thanks Laura! Yes, you'll stir them into the dish at the end if you want them more chunky or you can add them along with the coconut milk in the penultimate step and allow them to simmer for a few minutes if you want them more "mashed" so to speak 🙂

        Reply
    2. John

      May 27, 2022 at 10:05 pm

      Looks good! The recipe does not mention when to add the peas.
      If I decide to use cauliflower, carrots, etc,, would I withhold some of the potato? And do you recommend those veg be mashed, too?

      Reply
      • Shruthi Baskaran-Makanju

        May 28, 2022 at 4:33 am

        Thanks John! The frozen peas are added at the very end (since they're already parboiled before frozen).

        If you decide to use other vegetables, I suggest that you cook them partially along with the potatoes (so for instance, in this case, you can just add the cauliflower florets and carrots into the pot of boiling water as well). You don't need to mash them, but it is a good idea to cook them most of the way through so they integrate with the curry! And yes, I would suggest keeping the overall "amount" of vegetables roughly the same to make sure that it doesn't become too dense! Hope that helps.

        Reply

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    Shruthi Baskaran - Recipe Developer, Food Photographer, and Blogger at Urban Farmie

    I am Shruthi, the recipe developer, photographer and blogger behind Urban Farmie. I have two graduate degrees from Stanford, one focused on food systems. And I hope to bring you everything you need for healthy-ish, comforting, nourishing vegetarian cooking.

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    Recipe Key

    Dairy free
    Gluten free
    Nut free
    Vegan
    Vegetarian

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