This is an Indian vegetable curry with nuts, paneer cheese and an adjustable list of vegetables. It is in a tomato-cream sauce as opposed to the usual yoghurt based sauce. 'Navratan' means 'nine gems,' so choose nine of the vegetable, nuts, and paneer ingredients; you can leave out the elements you don't want to use, or add them all so it is 'ten gems' if you wish.
This recipe always gets rave reviews from everyone. I don't use the paneer; instead I bake or saute extra firm tofu (16 oz package), and then put this in near the end of the cooking time. Also, I usually double the veggies and triple the sauce, so it doesn't dry out too much (wonderful w/basmati or naan). The addition of cilantro is nice (if you like it), as well as a pinch of sugar. I plan to try brown sugar next time. Thanks for an awesome recipe!!! - 20 Dec 2006 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
I absolutely loved this recipe! I did tweek it abit for our personal tastes. We used a chopped tomato instead of tomato sauce and coconut milk for milk and heavy cream. I thought the spicing was just wonderful, we will definitely be eating this again. - 21 Jul 2005 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
Great recipe! Since I don't like a lot of spicy "heat", I cut the amount of cayenne in half. It still had a "bite" to it, and several of my guests found it a little too spicy for them. Next time I may cut the cayenne down a bit further. Be sure to use golden raisins - I used dark raisins and they looked like bugs mixed in! I added some cauliflower flowerettes like my favorite Indian restaurant does. That restaurant also adds a little fresh cilantro, which I'll add next time since I love cilantro. I couldn't find garlic paste and ginger paste, so I just used fresh minced garlic and fresh minced ginger. Thanks for the recipe! - 28 Aug 2005 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)