This creamy korma is packed full of vegetables and sprinkled with crunchy nuts. Best of all, it's vegan! Get the recipe below.
An alternative to the takeaway
It's too easy to rely on takeaways for your favourite Indian dishes. But it's so much more satisfying to make your own at home, plus you can tweak them to your exact tastes. Like more garlic? Add extra in? Don't like your curries too spicy? Hold back on the chilli.
I've been trying to get better at making my own curries at home. They might not be the most authentic but I've now developed a few that are just as good as our takeaway, if not better!
If you want to see more take away alternatives try my chard paneer (swap paneer for tofu to make it vegan) and chana masala.
How to make a creamy vegan korma
If we're getting Indian for dinner the likelihood is I'm going to order half the menu because I just can't decide what to have. Before we went vegan, more often than not once of those dishes would have been a creamy korma. Recreating this at home isn't easy if you're following a plant based diet but luckily for you I've got a few tricks up my sleeve for getting that thick, silky texture without adding any dairy. That's right, a vegan korma are possible!
As with all curries this recipe starts with frying onions and spices. Water gets added and then it's all tipped into a blender. Once it's been blitzed for a couple of minutes you end up with a thick, velvety sauce. You can make this ahead of time and keep in the fridge.
If you're cooking the curry in one go all you need to do is cook the vegetables, pour over the sauce and then stir in some coconut cream just a few minutes before serving.
The result is tender vegetables in a thick creamy curry sauce. A few cashew nuts give some extra crunch and it's ready to serve.
It's that simple!
The recipe
I love mopping up this mild, creamy korma with a chapati or naan but rice works pretty well too!
Vegan Potato, Cauliflower and Cashew Nut Korma
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon groundnut oil
- 1 large white onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 inch root ginger grated
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 cloves
- 6 cardamom pods
- 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 0.5 teaspoon tumeric
- 0.25 teaspoon chilli
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoon cornflour
- 1 pinch saffron
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
- 1 head cauliflower
- 2 large potatoes
- 1 pepper red
- 100 ml coconut cream
- 1 handful cashew nuts
- 1 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a pan and fry off the onions and garlic with the ginger and a pinch of salt.
- Cover with a lid and cook for 10-15 mins until translucent, stirring every now and then to make sure they don’t stick.
- Once the onions are soft add the cumin, coriander, cardamom seeds, and turmeric and chilli powder and cook for another 5 mins.
- Next, add the flour, saffron and sugar.
- Stir this continuously until it begins to form a thick and chunky paste.
- Slowly begin to add water to the pan (250ml) as if you are making a roux - making sure there are no lumps - then let it simmer for 10 mins until it has started to thicken.
- Let the sauce cool down before transferring to a food processer and blitzing until the sauce has become smooth and creamy.
- While the sauce is cooling, add a little more oil to the pan and fry the potatoes on a high heat until they are browned on the outside (roughly 5-10 minutes).
- Add the cauliflower and pepper to the pan and cook until the pepper has begun to soften (roughly 5-10 minutes).
- Pour the sauce over the vegetables and add in the cloves, cardamom pods and bay leaf with 250ml vegetable stock.
- Let simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through and the sauce is thick.
- Stir through the coconut cream and peas.
- Season with black pepper and serve as soon as the peas are cooked through.
Nutrition
Make it veggie
Swap out the potatoes for paneer. They take slightly less time to cook but the method stays the same.
More Indian inspired recipes
If you like this recipe you'll love these recipes too.
If you like this vegan korma then check out some of my other Indian inspired recipes in the archives.
Dannii says
This is my kind of comforting curry, and even better that it's vegan. I love adding cashews to curry as well, for some extra texture.
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry says
I've been looking for the perfect meatless korma recipe for a while now and this seems to be it, it looks and sounds so delicious.
Valentina says
Definitely a silver lining! It's so great that you can now make your favorite curries at home! And this particular recipe looks SO amazing! I'm all over it.
Andrea Metlika says
The Flavors in this sound amazing ! My family will love this.
Amy | The Cook Report says
It took us forever to find a good Indian takeaway near us too, now I never want to leave it! This curry looks delicious 🙂