This vegetarian curry recipe was requested by Cam who asked for one of those creamy Korma curries you get from a good Indian take away. Plus, since he had been badgering me to make kofta again for a while, I thought I’d do both and make one super awesome veggie kofta curry!!
Both Cam and Lu helped out in the kitchen to create this delicious veggie recipe full of sweet aromatic spices and delicious curry goodness. I used predominately sweet potato in the kofta balls but try a mixture of potato, sweet potato and carrot, adding peas if you like too.
The spices in this curry recipe are sweet and mild and the deep fried kofta balls soooooo good. Serve them with a yohurt or coconut milk dipping sauce instead of the curry for a great appetizer. I added a lovely kofta spice mix picked up form a stall at our local markets but try a mild, aromatic curry powder instead. Add cream, yoghurt, coconut cream or soy cream at the end depending on how rich and/or dairy free you wish to make the korma.
Enjoy with steamed rice, papadams and pickles or chutney for a complete vegetarian curry experience, beautiful and mild enough for the whole family to enjoy. Big thank you to Cam for the inspiration and help in the kitchen and to our gorgeous little Lu for hanging out like a happy camper while we whipped up this recipe to share with you all, enjoy!!

Sweet Potato Kofta Balls
Preparation time: 30mins
Makes approx. 15 balls
- 2 tsp chia seeds (you can substitute one free-range egg for the chia seeds and water if you like)
- 1/3 cup water
- 250g (9 oz) sweet potato, scrubbed and grated
- 200g (7 oz) potato and/or carrot, scrubbed and grated
- 1 small red onion, grated
- 2 tsp fresh grated ginger
- 2 tbs mild curry powder
- 1-2 tbs peanut oil
- 3-4 tbs potato flour (or plain flour)
- vegetable oil for deep frying
Combine the chia seeds with the 1/3 cup of water and set aside for about 10 minutes until it forms a jelly like consistency.
Meanwhile squeeze any excess liquid from the grated vegetables and combine them together in a large bowl with the onion, ginger and curry powder. Add the chia gel (or egg) and enough flour and peanut oil to bring the mixture together. Adding more oil if too dry and flour if too wet. The mixture should hold together when shaped into balls.
Heat enough oil in a saucepan for deep-frying (you want the oil to be about 10cm/4inch deep). Once the surface starts to shimmer carefully drop the kofta balls into the oil, deep-frying in batches until golden brown. Remove from the oil and allow to cool on absorbent paper.

Veggie Kofta Korma
Preparation time: 40mins
Serves 4-6
- 3 tbs peanut oil (use ghee if you prefer)
- 4 cardamom pods, crushed and pods removed
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 80g (3 oz) raw almonds, ground
- 2 tbs tomato paste
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1½ cups natural set yoghurt (or try cream, soy cream and/or coconut cream)
- prepared kofta balls
Heat the peanut oil in a good sized frying-pan over a medium heat, add the cardamom and heat in the oil for a few seconds until fragrant then add the diced onion. Cook the onion over a medium heat until soft. Add the garlic, ginger and remaining spices, cook over a medium low heat for a few minutes until the spices cook down and form a paste like consistency.
Add the ground almonds, tomato paste and vegetable stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Allow to cook gently for around 10 to 15 minutes until the liquid has reduced a little and flavours developed.
Now add the yoghurt, soy cream, coconut cream or cream and stir to combine over a low heat. Check the seasoning and add salt as desired. Once the korma sauce has reached a nice consistency add in the prepared kofta balls and gently spoon over the sauce allowing the balls to reheat gently with the sauce. You don’t want to boil it at this point as it may separate, so just gently heat the sauce and kofta together.
Serve this korma recipe with steamed basmati rice, papadams and your favourite accompaniments for a beautiful vegetarian curry, mild enough for everyone to enjoy.

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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
This looks delicious, but I have to cater for someone who doesn’t eat sweet potato (or pumpkin! the two most delicious vegetables). Can I ditch the sweet potato and just increaase the carrot/pumpkin, or will the taste be all wrong?
Hi Elizabeth, you could absolutely make these kofta using a combination of potato and carrot (maybe 250g potato + 200g carrot). I would try sneaking a little sweet potato in there, I promise the only thing they’ll notice is just how awesome it tastes :)
Your kofta looks fabulous Trudy! It reminds me of an amazing kofta curry I used to get at my favourite Indian restaurant in Melbourne. I’ve not found anywhere that makes curry as well here in Brisbane. I’m definitely bookmarking this to try.
i love cooking, but i don’t love trying to decide what to cook… there are always too many options! so, i’m always excited when there’s a new recipe on this site, because i know it will be absolutely delicious and i don’t need to look any further. this was absolutely no exception, it was actually as good as (if not better than!) our favourite indian place’s kofta, which we had previous thought was unparalleled. jennifer, if you haven’t tried it already, i highly recommend ‘taj bengal’ at ashgrove. it doesn’t look like much from the outside, but their vegetarian curries (especially the kofta curry) are reliably delicious. trudy, we used greek yoghurt (as we had some to use up) and stopped at 1 cup because the yoghurt flavour was getting pretty strong.
This looks amazing! I’ve yet to try chia seeds.
wow! im bowled over by how authentic it is with all the spices, the curry looks beautiful
This looks amazing. I will try it!!
The veggie kofta korma dish looks so rich and delicious! My mouth is watering just looking at the last picture. I am a curry fiend so definately will be trying this one out.
Oh my! That looks so good! I’ve just started cooking more Indian dishes myself and this would be a great one to add to my repertoire. :-)
It’s 3.15pm and I’ve just cooked this for dinner. It’s taking every ounce of my self control not to hook in right now!! I have sampled one kofta and it was amazing!! I added some currants to the kofta, just thought it might be a nice addition!!
I made this recipe last night without the chia seeds and used the egg. I didn’t have normal curry powder however I had madras curry powder and used cocunut cream.
This recipe is AMAZING. I wish I had made more. Next time I will be making 4x the amount. If making the kofta balls please make the really small they take a while to cook in the pan. so make them into about 5cnet bite size pieces.
That looks incredible! I’m craving some Indian food, think I’ll give it a go!
Ive got this cooking as we speak….smells amazing!! We have been addicted to your Dal Kofta so thought I’d change things up a bit with this recipe. Thanks so much for giving me the inspiration I need after a long day at work. I can always trust your recipes to come out tasty and just like the picture :)
This recipe was sooooo yum! I am eating the leftovers as I type. I couldn’t find a decent curry powder so just used a couple of spoons of korma paste, and I also used coconut milk in the sauce which seemed to work fine.
So delish, thanks Trudy :)