This creamy Indian sweet corn curry is a rich, restaurant-style Indian corn curry made with a velvety cashew-tomato gravy, warm Punjabi spices, and sweet corn kernels cut fresh from the cob. It's vegetarian, easily made vegan, and comes together in 35 minutes on the stovetop. The secret to the silky, creamy texture? Soaked cashew paste — the same technique used in restaurant-style kormas and shahi dishes. Serve with roti, basmati rice, or garlic naan for a satisfying meatless dinner the whole family will ask for again.
📋A quick look at the recipe
- ⏱️ Total Time: 35 minutes
- 🍽️ Servings: 4-6
- 🌱 Diet: Vegetarian, Vegan-adaptable, Gluten-free
- 📅 Perfect for: Weeknight dinners, meal prep, entertaining, comfort food
- ⭐Why You'll love this corn curry: authentic north-Indian, restaurant quality flavors, can work with frozen corn.
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When you live in the Midwest, there are very few things that are more fresh in summer than the locally grown ears of sweet corn. While nothing beats a fresh corn on the cob, be it grilled, boiled, microwaved or even raw; there are some other ways that we enjoy corn in our family.
We have been recently loving all things charred corn - like this charred corn and smashed potato salad, and charred corn salad with cucumber. The sweet corn soup recipe is one of the most popular recipes on the blog and a all time family favorite.
This creamy corn curry is my Indian ode to the sweetest, juiciest Midwest-grown corn you will ever eat. I've been making this corn curry since 2018 — it was the first recipe I created for dinner guests from farm fresh corn, and it became one of the most-loved recipes on the blog.
🧾Recipe Ingredients
- Whole Spices - These spices add the traditional aroma and warmth to the "gray" or sauce of this creamy corn curry recipe. You will need green cardamoms, clove, a bay leaf, and cumin seeds.
- The Masala Base - The body of the curry comes from the masala that is made with ginger garlic (use ginger garlic paste), onions, tomatoes, and ground spices like turmeric powder, coriander powder, and red chili powder. All these ingredients are cooked together using my favorite Bhoono technique, which deepens the flavors of all the spices and adds a signature depth. Secret ingredient of the masala - tomato ketchup!!
- Cashew Cream - The creaminess of this Indian corn curry comes from a paste of cashews and milk.
- The Star - Ears of fresh sweet corn, husked and kernels cut off using a sharp chef's knife.
- To Finish - we will finish the curry with sugar, heavy cream, garam masala, and kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves), and fresh, chopped cilantro for garnish.
☝️Substitutions and variations
- Frozen corn - No need to thaw. Add straight to the curry after the masala is ready. It will cook through in the same 10 minutes. Use about 2 to 2½ cups frozen kernels to replace 3 fresh ears.
- Vegan - swap milk to make cashew paste with water and either skip the heavy cream or replace it with coconut cream.
- Spicy - add a minced serrano pepper along with chopped onions or increase the amount of red chili powder used.
🌿How to make this corn curry vegan
This recipe is very easy to make 100% vegan with two simple swaps:
- Cashews: Soak and grind them in water rather than milk. The cashew paste will still be rich and creamy without any dairy.
- Heavy cream: Skip the cream entirely or substitute with 2-3 tablespoons of full-fat coconut cream or cashew cream.
The curry will still be thick, luscious, and deeply flavored. The rest of the recipe is naturally vegan — no butter, no ghee, just olive oil and whole spices. This vegan corn curry is also gluten-free, making it perfect for a wide range of dietary needs.
📋Steps to make this Recipe
- The recipe starts with a usual Punjabi/North Indian masala preparation. Prep all ingredients before you start or gather all the ingredients and prep as you go.
- Set a heavy-bottomed pan on medium-high heat and let the oil perfume with all the whole spices.
- Bhoono onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic with dry spices. This is a Punjabi-style North Indian curry — the technique of bhoono (slow-cooking the masala until oil separates) is a traditional method that builds the deep, layered flavor base.
- Cashew paste adds the creaminess and rich flavor to the curry along with cream (optional).
- Next go in the sweet corn kernels freshly cut from the cob (use a sharp knife like this one).
- Finish your creamy Indian sweet corn curry with garam masala, kasuri methi and fresh chopped cilantro.
- Serve it fresh homemade roti, jeera or cumin rice, plain rice or homemade garlic naan. Yummy!
🍽️what to serve with sweet corn curry
This creamy Indian corn curry pairs beautifully with:
Breads:
- Homemade roti or whole wheat chapati
- Garlic naan — the rich gravy is made for scooping with naan
- Poori for a celebratory meal
Rice:
- Plain basmati rice
- Jeera rice (cumin rice) — the earthy cumin complements the sweet corn
Sides to round out the meal:
- Raita (yogurt dip) to cool down the spices
- Simple kachumber salad (cucumber, tomato, onion)
❓Recipe FAQs
This recipe is vegetarian and easily made vegan with two swaps: soak and grind the cashews in water instead of milk, and replace the heavy cream with coconut cream or skip it entirely. The rest of the recipe — olive oil, spices, onion, tomato, corn — is naturally 100% vegan and gluten-free.
Yes, though I absolutely love making this curry with fresh, seasonal sweet corn, frozen corn also works perfectly. Add it directly without thawing; it will cook through in the same 10 minutes. Use about 2 to 2½ cups of frozen kernels to replace 3 fresh corn cobs. The curry will be just as creamy and flavorful as the fresh version.
Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) adds a distinctive, slightly smoky aroma that is characteristic of restaurant-style North Indian curries. It's added at the very end of cooking to preserve its fragrance. Even a small amount transforms a good homemade curry into something that tastes as if it came from a dhaba or an Indian restaurant.
Creamy Indian Sweet Corn Curry
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 green cardamoms
- 1 clove
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic see notes
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger see notes
- 1.5 cup chopped tomato see notes
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder optional
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder
- 5-6 cashews soaked in milk (see notes)
- ¼ cup milk see notes
- 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
- 3 ears corn husks and silk removed, see notes
- 2 cup water or as needed
- 2 tablespoon heavy cream optional
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- Salt, to taste
- ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- 1 teaspoon kasoori methis dried fenugreek leaves
- 5-6 sprigs cilantro, leaves chopped optional for garnish
Instructions
- Set a heavy bottomed skillet on medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil to it.
- Once the oil is nice and shiny, add green cardamoms, clove and bay leaf. Wait for 30 seconds and then add cumin seeds.
- Wait for the cumin seeds to crackle a bit and then add the onions with a pinch of salt. Adding salt to onions helps in cooking them faster by extracting the moisture out.
- Add the ginger garlic paste and bhoono (cook) the masala till the onions turn light brown in color. This will take 5-7 minutes.
- While the onion masala is cooking, take a very sharp knife and carefully cut the kernels off of the cob. Set aside,
- Now add turmeric, red chili (if using) and coriander powders to the onion masala. Mix.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and scrape any bits of the onion masala that might be sticking to the pan. Mix and cook the tomato masala for another 5 minutes or so.
- Grind the soaked cashews with the milk (or water) that they were soaked in.
- Once the masala is cooked, you should be able to see tiny droplets of oil appear on the edges of the masala. Add tomato ketchup.
- Add the cashew paste, mix and cook for another 30 seconds. Now add water, and corn kernels.
- Stir in salt to taste, sugar and increase the heat to high. Bring to a boil, add more water to adjust consistency, lower the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, add heavy cream ,garam masala and kasoori methi powder. Give the curry a taste check and adjust seasoning if needed. Turn the heat off.
- Sprinkle chopped cilantro and serve hot with roti (recipe here), rice (recipe here) or homemade garlic naan (recipe here).
Notes
Nutrition
Hope you will give this recipe a try and let me know if you do it.
Love - Vaishali.
Isaac says
When I saw the ketchup in this list I knew it was a real home-tested recipe. I followed it to the letter (except for cooking the onions longer, of course) and it was as good as I could have hoped.
Vaishali says
Ha ha...thanks Isaac! I'm glad you liked it!
Petra says
I have to try this!!
Jimmy says
this looks yummy
Vaishali says
Thanks Jimmy
Matthew Wager says
This looks really good! I'll have to check this out
Vaishali says
Thanks Matthew!
Eva Petruzziello says
I’m a vegetarian and this looks amazing!
Vaishali says
Indeed! A perfect meatless dish!
Jenna from Heavenly Spiced says
Wow, this creamy corn curry sounds so so yummy! I have a bunch of corn at the moment, I want to try this. Thank you for sharing!
Vaishali says
Thanks Jenna! You are a master yourself...I'm sure you will like it!
Alina says
Sounds delicious, need to try it!
Vaishali says
Thanks Alina. I hope you enjoy it!
Urodoc says
great recipe. well balanced. loved it! I roasted the corn as well as some paneer on a griddle pan before adding to the mix
Vaishali says
Urodoc, thanks! What a great idea to roast the corn and paneer to deepen the flavors.
ashok says
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
Vaishali says
Thank you so much Ashok. I am glad you and your family enjoyed the fresh sweet corn curry,
Imogen says
Just finished making this. In order to keep it vegan, I used soya milk to soak the nuts and coconut cream instead of heavy cream. I always use more spices than people suggest, but actually, this was pretty spot on! The curry is rich and full of flavor. I've added a load of water to it and I'll leave it to slow cook overnight, curry is *always* better slow cooked and left until the next day! Thanks so much!
Vaishali says
oh wow. Thanks for trying Imogen. And your substitutions sound great.