Indian Recipes
Lentil and Vegetable Ragout (Korma)
A mild, creamy vegetable korma thickened with cashews and coconut milk, made more filling with tender chana dal and finished with a sizzling cumin tarka.
- Serves 4
- Soak 1 hr
- Cook about 1 hr
- Indian
Method
Drain the chana dal and put it in a saucepan with the turmeric and the water. Bring to the boil, skim off any froth and simmer, partly covered, for 40–45 minutes until soft but still holding their shape.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion for 8 minutes until soft and golden. Add the garlic and ginger for 2 minutes, then the ground coriander and chilli powder for 30 seconds.
Add the carrots, cauliflower and courgettes, stir to coat in the spices, then add the tomatoes and a good pinch of salt. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring now and then.
Drain the cashews and blend them with the coconut milk until smooth. Tip the cooked dal and its liquid into the vegetables with the cashew cream and simmer gently for 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the sauce is creamy. Stir in the garam masala and check the salt.
For the tarka, heat the ghee in a small pan, add the cumin seeds, asafoetida and dried chillies and sizzle for a few seconds until the cumin darkens. Pour over the ragout, scatter with coriander and serve with rice or chapatis.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
Chef’s notes
- Use any mix of vegetables: green beans, peas, potatoes and peppers all work.
- For a quicker version, use 200 g red lentils instead of chana dal; they cook in 20 minutes.
How this recipe was developed
The old Cookeryonline page reproduced a published recipe, so we wrote a new one. We combined a cashew-and-coconut korma with a dal base and a tarka finish.
- Chana dal base. Swasthi Shreekanth soaks chana dal for at least 30 minutes (or overnight) when not using a pressure cooker.
- Cashew cream. Our choice: blending soaked cashews with coconut milk gives the korma body without cream.
- Tarka. Madhur Jaffrey finishes her daily dal with a tarka of asafoetida, cumin and two dried chillies poured over at the end.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 31 October 2026):
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.