veg kurma recipe with step by step photos. delicious south indian style kurma recipe made with mixed veggies, coconut and spices. korma or kurma is a gravy based dish and is served with chapatis, pooris or steamed rice. there are different ways of making a kurma gravy. usually the gravy base is made from ground coconut paste or coconut milk or curd or nuts & seeds paste.
this hotel style veg kurma is adapted from my mix vegetable korma recipe and tastes awesome. in this recipe i have used green chilies. though you can also use red chilies.
vegetable korma with pooris or chapatis is a weekend lunch on occasions. we like mixed veg curries a lot, so no wonder i make them also often. they are easy, healthy and nutritious. serve with some soft chapatis and you have a satisfying meal.
few more veg kurma recipes you can make are
this mix vegetable kurma recipe has some prepping work to be done and once you have everything ready, then you need to saute some ingredients and pressure cook. pressure cooking saves time. so i use a pressure cooker often. though you can make the kurma in a pan too. just add water as required.
serve hotel style vegetable kurma with chapatis, pooris or neer dosa or poha dosa or set dosa. even plain soft dosa goes very well with veg kurma. you can also serve vegetable kurma with steamed rice or appam or lachedar paratha or kerala paratha.
veg kurma recipe
Ingredients (1 cup = 250 ml)
for making ground paste for veg kurma
- 5 tablespoon desiccated coconut or fresh coconut
- 12 to 15 cashews (kaju) - blanched
- 2 teaspoon poppy seeds (khus khus) - optional
- ½ tablespoon roasted chana dal
- ½ tablespoon coriander seeds (sabut dhania)
- 1 teaspoon saunf (fennel seeds)
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
- 3 cloves (lavang)
- 2 green cardamoms (chotti elaichi)
- 4 to 5 black peppercorns (sabut kali mirch)
- 1 marathi moggu (kopak) - optional
- a small tiny piece of stone flower (pathar phool) - optional
- 2 green chilies (hari mirch) - chopped
- 3 to 4 medium sized garlic, chopped or 1 to 1.5 teaspoon chopped garlic (lahsun)
- ¾ inch ginger, chopped or 1.5 teaspoon chopped ginger (adrak)
- ½ cup water for grinding or add as required
veggies for kurma
- 1 to 1.25 cups medium sized cauliflower florets (gobi)
- ¾ cup diced potatoes Or 1 medium potato - diced
- 1/3 cup green peas (matar) fresh or frozen
- ¼ cup french beans or 7 to 8 french beans, chopped
- ½ cup chopped carrots Or 1 medium carrot, chopped
other ingredients for veg kurma
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion Or 1 medium sized onion - finely chopped
- 1/3 cup chopped tomatoes Or 1 medium tomato - chopped
- 7 to 8 curry leaves (kadi patta)
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder (lal mirch powder)
- 2 tablespoon fresh curd (dahi or yogurt) - optional
- 1.25 cups water. for slightly thin gravy, add 1.5 cups water
- salt as required
- 2 to 3 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (dhania patta)
How to Make Recipe
preparation for veg kurma
- soak 12 to 15 cashews in hot water for 20 to 30 minutes. later drain and keep aside.
- rinse and soak 1 to 1.25 cups mediums sized cauliflower florets in hot water for 15 to 20 minutes. this step is optional and only to get rid of any insects or worms in the cauliflower. after blanching the cauliflower, drain them and keep aside.
- rinse, peel and chop the rest of the veggies.
- add the the ingredients mentioned under 'for ground paste' in a in a wet grinder jar.
- pour 1/2 cup water and grind to a smooth fine paste. keep aside.
making veg kurma
- heat 2 tbsp oil. add the chopped onions.
- stir and saute till the onions turn translucent or a light brown. add 7 to 8 curry leaves and stir.
- next add the chopped tomatoes, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and 1/2 tsp red chili powder.
- stir and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
- add the ground paste. stir and mix well.
- saute stirring often for 4 to 5 minutes on a low to medium flame.
- then add 2 tbsp fresh curd/yogurt. if you want, you can skip yogurt too.
- mix the curd very well with the rest of the masala.
- add the chopped mix veggies. stir and saute for 1 to 2 minutes.
- then add 1.25 cups water. for slightly thin gravy you can add 1.5 cups water. if cooking in a pan, then add 1.5 to 2 cups of water. stir well.
- season with salt as per taste.
cooking veg kurma
- pressure cook vegetable kurma for 2 whistles or for 9 to 10 minutes.
- when the pressure settles down on its own, open the lid. if you find the gravy to be thin, then you can simmer veg korma for some more minutes.
- if the vegetable korma gravy looks thick, then add some water and simmer for a few more minutes. the consistency should be medium - neither thin nor thick.
- add 2 to 3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves. stir.
- serve hotel style veg kurma with pooris or chapatis.
Notes
- you can increase or decrease the amount of spices as per your taste.
preparation to make vegetable kurma
1. soak 12 to 15 cashews in hot water for 20 to 30 minutes. later drain and keep aside.
2. rinse and soak 1 to 1.25 cups mediums sized cauliflower florets in hot water for 15 to 20 minutes. this step is optional and only to get rid of any insects or worms in the cauliflower. after blanching the cauliflower, drain them and keep aside.
3. rinse, peel and chop the rest of the veggies – 1 medium potato, 7 to 8 french beans and 1 medium carrot. also chop 1 medium sized onion finely and 1 medium sized tomato. keep the chopped veggies aside.
making paste for veg kurma
4. these are the some of the spices and ingredients that will be ground to a paste for the kurma –
- 5 tbsp desiccated coconut or fresh coconut
- 2 tsp poppy seeds (optional) (khus khus)
- ½ tbsp roasted chana dal (bhuna chana dal)
- ½ tbsp coriander seeds (sabut dhania)
- 1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)
- ½ tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
- 3 cloves + 2 green cardamoms + 4 to 5 black peppercorns
- 1 marathi moggu (optional) + small tiny piece of stone flower (optional)
5. take all the above ingredients in a wet grinder jar.
6. add the cashews, 2 green chilies (chopped), 3 to 4 medium sized garlic (chopped) and ¾ inch ginger (chopped).
7. add ½ cup water and grind to a smooth fine paste. keep aside.
making veg kurma
8. heat 2 tbsp oil in a 2 litre pressure cooker. add the chopped onions.
9. stir and saute till the onions turn translucent or a light brown. add 7 to 8 curry leaves and stir.
10. next add the chopped tomatoes.
11. then add ¼ tsp turmeric powder and ½ tsp red chili powder. stir well and saute for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.
12. add the ground paste.
13. stir and mix.
14. saute stirring often for 4 to 5 minutes on a low to medium flame.
15. then add 2 tbsp fresh curd (yogurt or dahi). if you want, you can skip yogurt too.
16. mix the curd very well with the rest of the masala.
17. add the chopped mix veggies.
18. mix the veggies with the rest of the masala and saute for 1 to 2 minutes.
19. then add 1.25 cups water. for slightly thin gravy you can add 1.5 cups water. if cooking in a pan, then add 1.5 to 2 cups of water.
20. stir well.
21. add salt as per taste.
pressure cooking veg kurma
22. pressure cook veg kurma for 2 to 3 whistles or for 9 to 10 minutes.
23. when the pressure settles down on its own, open the lid. if you find vegetable kurma gravy to be thin, then you can simmer for some more minutes. if the gravy looks thick, then add some water and simmer for a few more minutes. the consistency of veg kurma curry should be medium – neither thin nor thick.
24. add 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves. stir.
25. serve veg kurma with pooris or chapatis or appam or plain paratha.
Its awesome. We liked it.
thanks.
Hi,
I have been following you for a while now and I have to say that you are amazing. I have tried many recipes from your blog. Some haven’t worked and some are awesome. My recent hits are sooji ka halwa and this sensational korma. My mom makes almost a very similar version and I used to love it. The addition of marathi moggu and stone flower makes such a huge difference I must say. Thank you for providing your readers with such great content. We really appreciate it. Keep up with the great work.
Thanks Jayshree for your positive feedback and appreciation. Nice to know that some to the recipes have turned out awesome.
Superb tried it everyone liked it in my family
Thanks Seetha for your positive feedback.
hi Dassana!thank u for this wonderful recipe.on my travels to Kerala & Tamil Nadu I did learn how to make the korma but the grounding of the spices in the paste makes it so much convenient whilst eating.
The only variation I made was that I added fresh coconut,all spice berry and mint leaves to the paste.
thanks meveera. agree on the grinding of spices. yes of course variations can be done. fresh coconut, mint leaves and all spice are good additions.
Hi Dassana,
This is a recipe I have been relying upon for a long time whenever I want to prepare veg korma. But one thing I always wondered was how your cauliflower does not get mashed in a pressure cooker even after 2-3 whistles or after 9-10 mins of pressure cooking (Photo 23). It’s a very big challenge for me to get cauliflower clean and neat in any dish :-).
kavitha, i get cauliflower which takes a lot of time to cook. its depends on the quality if cauliflower. in fact i blanch the cauliflower first and then cook. then also it takes a lot of time. you can just pressure cook for 1 whistle also.
Thank you for the recipes, their presentation and the sheer choice. I have come to depend on your site for inspiration and ideas.
Many of your recipes involve cooking directly in the cooker as in the case of the navratan korma. My cooker is large and I usually end up burning the dish as I am unable to do the andaza method to see what works. For such recipes, can I cook in a pan, then transfer said vessel into cooker and pressure cook in the end as per recipe? Will this work equally well as cooking directly in cooker? please advise.
Welcome Suman. No need to transfer. You can directly cook in a pan or pot. but just add some more water than what is mentioned in the recipe. it will take some more time in pan than what it takes in pressure cooker. but taste will be good.