Super easy vegan korma ready in 30 minutes! A delicious blend of vegetables and spices in a creamy and rich korma sauce.
This vegan korma is the easiest vegetable korma you will ever make in your life! Seriously.
I was looking around the web at all kinds of korma recipes and lots of them had potatoes in. I don’t have anything against potatoes, but we have eaten a lot of korma dishes both in Dubai and in South Africa and they never had potatoes in them.
Always veggies, but never potatoes. And since potatoes take longer to cook than other veggies, we didn’t put any in.
As a result this is a meal you can have on your table in less than 30 minutes from start to finish. And it is really, really tasty.
For more Indian inspired dinner recipes also check out our vegan butter chicken, vegan tikka masala and vegan biryani.
How To Make Vegan Korma
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
Add cashews and coconut milk to a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
Add olive oil to a pot with chopped onions, crushed garlic, minced ginger, curry powder, cumin, coriander powder, cinnamon, turmeric, cardamom, ground cloves and fennel.
Sauté until the onions are softened.
Add tomato paste and frozen vegetables and sauté until the vegetables have slightly softened.
Add the blended cashews and coconut milk and stir in.
Simmer until the vegetables are cooked and the flavors are nicely blended together.
Add coconut sugar (for flavor balance) and salt to taste.
Serve with basmati rice and fresh cilantro with some poppadoms on the side (optional).
Ingredient Notes
Frozen Vegetables – we used a one pound bag of frozen vegetables. Sometimes, frozen veg comes in one pound bags, in other places it’s a half kilo bag (pretty close) either way, just use the whole bag. If your frozen veg comes in 2 pound bags (32-ounces) then just use half the bag.
Peas and carrots – are the crucial frozen vegetables. Our bag of frozen veg had peas, carrots, corn and green beans. If yours has something slightly different like peas, carrots and cauliflower, this is totally fine.
Coconut milk – should be canned, full fat, unsweetened coconut milk. This blends up with cashews for a super rich sauce.
Cashews – have an amazing ability to thicken up a sauce as well as provide a delicious flavor and texture.
Coconut sugar. This creates the perfect flavor balance for this vegan korma. Between the spices and the tomato paste, the coconut sugar balances everything out to perfection. If you don’t have coconut sugar on hand, you can use brown sugar instead.
Storing and Freezing
Leftovers can be stored in the fridge in a covered container for 4-5 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove over low heat.
It also freezes beautifully for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight.
More Easy Vegan Dinner Recipes
- Vegan Sweet Potato Curry
- Vegan Potato Curry
- Vegan Thai Green Curry
- Vegan Lentil Curry
- Vegan Chili
- Vegan Massaman Curry
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Korma
Ingredients
- ½ cup Raw Cashews (75g)
- 14 ounces Canned Coconut Milk (400ml) Full Fat, Unsweetened
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Medium Onion White, Yellow or Brown, Chopped
- 1 teaspoon Crushed Garlic
- 1 teaspoon Minced Ginger
- 1 Tablespoon Mild Curry Powder
- ½ teaspoon Cumin
- ½ teaspoon Ground Coriander
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric
- ½ teaspoon Cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Cloves
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Fennel
- ½ cup Tomato Paste (130g)
- 3 ½ cups Mixed Frozen Vegetables (1 pound / 450g) Peas, carrots, corn, green beans
- 1 Tablespoon Coconut Sugar or Light Brown Sugar
- Sea Salt To Taste
Instructions
- Add the cashews and coconut milk to a blender and blend until very smooth. Set aside.
- Add the olive oil to a pot along with the chopped onion, crushed garlic, minced ginger, curry powder, cumin, coriander powder, cinnamon, turmeric, cardamom, ground cloves and fennel and sauté until the onions are softened.
- Add in the tomato paste and frozen vegetables and sauté until the vegetables are slightly softened.
- Add in the blended cashews and coconut milk and simmer until the vegetables are cooked.
- Add coconut sugar sugar and stir in. Add salt to taste.
- Serve with basmati rice and fresh cilantro with poppadoms on the side (optional).
Video
Notes
- The frozen vegetables you use should contain peas and carrots. Ours was peas, carrots, green beans and corn. If you get a different frozen veg mix that’s totally fine, but peas and carrots are great as the base vegetables for this.
- Keep leftovers stored in a covered container in the fridge for 4-5 days. Reheat in the microwave or over low heat on the stove. It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
- Nutritional information does not include rice or poppadoms.
Making this recipe every week, it’s really delicious!
Thanks Simone!
Hi this recipe looks amazing, do you have a substitute for the fennel or could I leave it out? I can’t stand fennel in anything. Thanks in advance ????
You can just leave it out! 🙂
Delicious and had it with rice and paratha and it was good! Definitely will make this again especially with fall and winter approaching!
Absolutely delicious!! Super easy to make! Made some basmati rice and added avocado on the side.
Wonderful! Thanks Bianka!
Hello Alison, I am finding it hard to get a good recipe on a classic curry, so I am going with the 5 star feedback! I have made a pasta bake of yours before, and it was absolutely delicious.
Can I swap cashews with almonds as they don’t agree with me, and silly question, but what can you substitute tomato paste with?
Thanks so much!
Hi Bron, I haven’t tested this with anything other than cashews but you could try blanched almonds or slivered almonds, it might work fine! There isn’t any good subs for tomato paste, you could use tomato purée or tomato sauce, but the flavors are not nearly as strong.
Hello Alison.
Thank you.I didn’t think of blanched almonds, and I’ll give tomato puree a go.
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Easy, fast meal. Liked the addition of cinnamon I’d forgotten that was a usual spice in Korma Curries. Tasted so much better than most I’ve had in restaurants which I rarely eat now as they are usually non-vegan. I added chopped coconut, nut butter instead of cashews and thinned it out with soya milk. Thank you.
Love this recipe! super easy and comes out great! I have made veg modifications and they all work really well. Coconut and cashew is a great combo!
Yay! Thanks Gary, and I agree it’s such a good combo! 🙂
Made this today and it was absolutely delicious! The seasoning was spot on and tasted better than any restaurant Korma I have ever had. Also made the vegan naan to accompany this as well as basmati rice. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Awesome! So pleased to hear that Susan. Thanks for posting!
It was sooo good! Unbelievable creamy. Felt like in an Indian restaurant 🙂
So pleased to hear that Sina! Thanks for sharing.
Hi there! I’m wondering if I could substitute the raw cashews for roasted cashews as that’s all I have in the cupboard? 🙂
I think you can, but it will of course have a roasted flavor.
My Family loves this recipe. Leftovers don’t last in my house. I added a can of garbanzo beans and some potatoes. I also double it and used fresh carrots. Fresh is always my preference when it comes to vegetables. All of the spices are important. I was out of curry one time and it was just not the same for sure. Delicious, Delicious, Delicious!
So glad you like the recipe Paula! Thanks for the wonderful review! 🙂
Hi, I’m looking for a vegan korma receipt and this looks perfect. But I have one question, do you really use 130g of tomato paste? This seems a lot, or is it more like a tomato sauce?
Thanks, can’t wait to try it this weekend!
Hi Martin, yes it’s definitely tomato paste! 🙂
I’m not vegan but I’m trying to go as meatless as possible. This recipe was very easy and came out delicious! Even my carnivore husband loved it. I added firm tofu and it soaked up the flavors very well. I added the tofu right after adding the tomato paste and gave it a minute before adding the coconut milk mix.
Hi Jen! So happy to hear you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful review! 🙂
Absolutely delicious ????
Thank you so much! 🙂
Wow, this is a wonderful, easy store-cupboard/freezer recipe – thank you!
I added a tin of chickpeas for extra protein, otherwise made exactly as per recipe.
So glad you liked it Cornelle! Thanks so much for posting and the wonderful review. 🙂
It was awesome, added some black pepper and I’m in love with it, trying sweet potato soup next
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the wonderful review Steph. 🙂