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Alex Caspero is a Registered Dietitian, New York Times Bestselling Plant-Based Chef and mom of two. She aims to cut through the nutrition noise by providing real-life, nourishing tips for body and mind. Learn more about Alex.
Easy Vegan Korma
By Alexandra Caspero on January 25, 2022
Vegetables and chickpeas in a spiced, korma curry sauce.
Serves 4-6
Easy Vegan Korma! If you like Indian inspired curries, then you’ll love this healthy weeknight dinner. Vegetables and chickpeas in a spiced, korma curry sauce.
Indian food is one of my favorite cuisines on the planet, as evidenced by my take on butter chickpeas, tikka masala, tofu saag and chana masala. And as much as I love those dishes, vegan korma might be my favorite.
What’s not to love? Vegetables, potatoes and chickpeas in a spicy korma curry sauce, made thick and creamy with cashews and coconut milk.
Before we had kids and lived in California, we ordered Indian food at least weekly. As our condo was centered right between my favorite Thai restaurant (Thai Canteen) and Bombay, it was a no-brainer that busy evenings meant a call into one of those places for our standard order.
Sadly, I don’t branch out much. I almost always settle on one of three dishes and Vegetable Korma tops that list. I can scan a menu pretty fast, looking for the words Korma or Navratan. If I spot it, watch out. I’ll probably be enjoying one there and taking one home with me for lunch the next day.
It’s THAT good. Creamy, cashew rich sauce loaded with spices and vegetables? I could eat this for 6 weeks straight and not get tired of it.
I made this version a few nights ago to enjoy with girlfriends. Yes, it’s not traditional but it’s pretty darn good. If you love vegetable korma as much as I do, then you’ll love this recipe.
Everything You Need to Make this Recipe:
Ingredients for this Vegan Korma Recipe
To make things even easier, chop all the vegetables ahead of time. The process isn’t difficult, but you won’t have time to chop the veggies as you go.
Don’t like the vegetables listed in here in this vegan korma? No problem. Make it your own. My must-haves are cauliflower, carrots and peas but almost everything works. I’ve made this vegan korma with broccoli, green beans, sweet potatoes, peppers– it all works!
- Oil
- Onion
- Fresh grated or chopped ginger
- Garlic cloves
- Jalapeño, or other spicy chili pepper, like a serrano peppeer
- Spices: turmeric, smoked paprika, chili powder, curry powder and salt
- Cubed potatoes, my favorite are yukon potatoes, but other potatoes will work
- Carrots
- Ground cashews (see below for notes)
- Tomato sauce or tomato puree
- Chopped cauliflower
- Frozen peas
- Garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
- Coconut milk, regular or light
- Chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
- Rice and naan bread, for serving
How to make ground cashews
To ground cashews, place cashews in the base of a food processor or blender and blend until a fine powder forms. The ground cashews gives incredible texture to the finished dish, and I do recommend this over cashew cream or butter.
However, if you don’t have a food processor or blender, you can use cashew butter instead. It won’t give the same texture, but a similar taste. I recommend ~1/4 cup of cashew butter, then add more as desired for taste.
How to Make this Easy Vegan Korma Recipe
- Cook onion until tender
To start, heat the oil in a dutch oven or large skillet pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add fresh grated ginger and garlic and cook an additional 1 minute, taking care not to burn the garlic.
- Add in the other aromatics
Add the jalapeño, turmeric, smoked paprika, chili powder, curry powder and salt. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes until spices are fragrant.
- Stir in vegetables
Next, stir in the potatoes, carrots, cashews, tomato sauce and water. Increase heat to medium-high, and cook another 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. Continue to stir frequently, so not to burn the mixture.
- Add in the cauliflower and other ingredients
To finish, add in the cauliflower, peas, garbanzo beans and coconut milk. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for an additional 20-25 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Coconut milk will curdle, so make sure your heat is turned down to a low setting.
- Garnish and eat!
Finish with fresh chopped cilantro and serve with rice and naan or roti bread.
FAQs
How do you make perfect Basmati Rice?
The trick for perfect basmati rice is to rinse it until the water runs clear, then combine the rice and water in a wide saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer, when the water gets right to the rice line, turn off the heat and let sit until tender.
Is Naan Vegan?
Note that most frozen naan bread is not vegan as it traditionally contains yogurt. Roti bread is usually vegan and can be found at most well-stocked grocery stores (check the frozen section) or your favorite International grocery store.
Isn’t Korma typically made with yogurt?
Korma is traditionally made with yogurt. However to keep this recipe dairy-free, I’ve replaced the yogurt with coconut milk.
More Indian Inspired Curry Recipes
- Slow Cooker Potato Curry
- Butternut Squash Curry
- Slow Cooker Coconut Curry
- Spicy Curry Lentils
- Vegan Delicata Squash Red Curry
If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag your Instagram photos with #delishknowledge . I absolutely love seeing your creations. Happy cooking!
Print
Easy Vegan Korma
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: dinner, main
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: Indian, Vegan, Gluten-Free
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Easy Vegan Korma! If you like Indian curry, you’ll want to make this healthy weeknight dinner! Vegetables, potatoes and chickpeas in a spicy, creamy korma curry sauce. Gluten-Free.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: dinner, main
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: Indian, Vegan, Gluten-Free
- Diet: Vegan
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: dinner, main
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: Indian, Vegan, Gluten-Free
- Diet: Vegan
Scale
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon oil or coconut oil
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 medium yukon potatoes, cubed
- 3 carrots, diced
- 1/2 cup ground cashews (see notes)
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 2 cups chopped cauliflower
- 1 cup frozen peas
- One (15 ounce can) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (15 ounce can) coconut milk (light is OK)
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
- Rice, to serve
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a dutch oven or large skillet pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add fresh grated ginger and garlic and cook an additional 1 minute, taking care not to burn the garlic.
- Add the jalapeño, turmeric, smoked paprika, chili powder, curry powder and salt. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes until spices are fragrant.
- Stir in the potatoes, carrots, cashews, tomato sauce and water. Increase heat to medium-high, and cook another 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. Continue to stir frequently, so not to burn the mixture.
- Add the cauliflower, peas, garbanzo beans and coconut milk. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for an additional 20-25 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Coconut milk will curdle, so make sure your heat is turned down to a low setting.
- Stir in cilantro and serve over rice with naan, if desired!
Notes
To grind the cashews, place them in the base of a food processor and pulse until the cashews are finely ground, but not turned into nut butter. I use raw, unsalted cashews.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6th recipes
- Calories: 316
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 244 mg
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated Fat: 6 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6 g
- Carbohydrates: 43 g
- Fiber: 10 g
- Protein: 11 g
did you make this?
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This recipe was first posted in 2018 and updated in 2022
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(17 comments) leave a comment
Easy to make and tasted fantastic, I’ve tried various korma recipes and this one is by far the best!
★★★★★
Can’t wait to try this one! Have you tried it in the instantpot?
What would you recommend for the pressure cook time?
Thanks!
This recipe deserves a revival, it was really delicious and warming on a winter evening. This is the first time I’ve ground up cashews to thicken a vegan sauce, and I’m thrilled with the result. Following others’ advice, I cooked the potatoes and carrots for quite a bit longer than called for, and added the coconut milk after the others had cooked through. I used a bit less mild curry than called for, and it’s still a bit hot for my taste buds, but the flavor is wonderful! I was concerned that so many different veggies would be odd, but the result is very balanced. The cilantro really made the flavor for our family.
★★★★
So glad you liked it! Thanks Jill.
I made this today with a few changes. It was good and I will make it again!
★★★★★
So glad you liked it!
Made this and my husband and I LOVED it! Reminds me a lot of Amy’s vegetable korma(my favorite amy’s meal). I cooked my veggies down much longer than the recipe called for 40mins-1hr I like my veggies very tender. Will make again!
★★★★★
So glad you liked it! Thanks for commenting, I appreciate it.
This was really yummy. Excellent recipe. Will make again!
★★★★★
Glad you liked it!
Tasty. I added water as I cooked in the beginning: about 3/4 cup. I didn’t measure, but I’m guessing that was the amount. I also added the entire can of coconut milk, which may have been 1/4 cup, plus I added more as I added water to the can to get everything out.
Veggies: I added a whole onion, 2 cups broccoli, and a few handfuls frozen mixed vegetables.
Good recipe. 🙂
Thanks Katie!
This is a tasty curry dish, I’ve made it a few times now and both my husband and 2 year old eat it up! I have a question, or need help… I hope you don’t mind me reviving a 9 month old post! I keep wondering if there’s a wrong measurement or step I’m missing or an ingredient (h20?) you left out? Mine always seems so dry, I end up adding some vegetable stock. thanks for a great recipe!
Thanks Sara! I am so glad you like it! Help me out- I haven’t made this in a while, how much liquid do you end up adding? I will try to make it again this weekend and re-do the recipe. Sorry for any inconvenience but I am glad that your family enjoys it 🙂
I ended up adding about 2 cups of veggie stock to the last step.
I do love curry, and just about any curry, but I still have yet to find a perfect korma I can stick to. Perhaps this will finally be “the one!” It certainly does look promising!
I know what you mean! This dish is pretty close to my favorite restaurant korma- without all the steps! I love that it comes together in less than 45 minutes. Let me know what you think if you try it!