A quick and easy Tofu Curry with a delicious tomato-onion sauce that comes together in a blender. Creamy and perfectly spiced. Serve with basmati rice, roti or vegan naan and take the rest of the day off from cooking! This is a vegan, gluten-free recipe and it can be soy-free and nut-free.
It takes all of five, maybe 10 minutes, to put together the sauce for this easy tofu curry, but it has so much flavor, you could pretend you've been slogging at the stove all day and let them do the dishes. 😉
Not that there are that many dishes, or pots, to clean. This is essentially a one-pot curry (you need the blender too, of course). All you need to do to make it is toss ingredients into the blender, pour the sauce into a hot pan, cook it down, add the tofu, and you're done.
It's quite foolproof.
The resulting sauce has rich, buttery notes like a makhani, and you'll be getting compliments like crazy. You can use plain tofu in this curry, if you like, but you can add a little more oomph by using air fryer tofu, which has a delicious, crispy, chewy texture.
There's not much to give you by way of instructions, because all you need to do is chop the ingredients roughly, then toss them into the blender. Tomatoes, onions, ginger, garlic, a few spices like coriander powder, paprika and/or cayenne, and garam masala, a handful of cashew nuts and a bit of kasoori methi all go in, get blitzed into smoothness, then poured into a hot pan with a little oil.
The only time you'll need to exercise some patience is when your sauce is cooking down. You need to do this because the ingredients were all raw when you added them to the blender, remember? Now you need to let them cook down and lose almost all of that moisture, so the flavors you get are rich and deep. For this, make sure you cook the paste to the point where it's quite sticky looking, and has a shimmer, indicating the oil is separating.
I like using baked tofu in this recipe just because it adds that chewy texture to the curry, but you can simply use cubed super firm tofu and it'll be quite delicious too--softer and creamier.
Add water or vegetable stock for the sauce, vegetable stock is preferable, because it builds more depth.
Garnish with cilantro.
Any Indian rice of flatbread are great to soak up this flavorful sauce with. A Jeera Rice would be particularly awesome, and it's quick too. You could also serve it with this Carrot Rice or with a Vegan Naan.
-Onions. Red onions or shallots are always best with Indian food, but any onion is fine.
-Tomatoes. Use tomatoes that are very ripe for best color and flavor.
-Ginger
-Garlic
-Raw cashews (sub with pumpkin seeds for a nut-free version)
-Coriander powder
-Paprika and/or cayenne. Use the cayenne only if you want more heat. Paprika adds the color.
-Garam masala
-Kasoori methi
-Baked tofu (or you can use extra-firm tofu directly, for a softer-textured tofu in the curry. If you want to make this soy-free, you can use a veggie, like zucchini or bell peppers. If using veggies, roast them first.
-Sugar. A little bit, to balance out the flavors.
-Salt
-Vegan butter
Vegan Butter Chicken
Tofu Makhani
Methi Malai Paneer Tofu
Vegan Palak Paneer with Tofu
Vegan Paneer Butter Masala
Featured comment:
I made this tonight for dinner. Excellent flavour! So quick and easy! I didn't realize that the gravy I've been eating at Indian buffets all of these years was so quick to make!
-Camille
Easy Tofu Curry
Easy Tofu Curry
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion (roughly chopped)
- 3 medium tomatoes (rougly chopped)
- 1 inch knob ginger
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- ½ to 1 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
- 2 tablespoons raw cashews (use pumpkin seeds for a nut-free version)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 14 oz extra firm tofu (cubed. You can use baked or air fried tofu, or just plain super firm tofu or extra firm tofu, with the water squeezed out. If you want to make this soy-free, sub tofu with roasted veggies of your choice)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoon vegan butter
- 2 tablespoon cilantro (for garnish)
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients, except the vegetable oil, tofu, butter, cilantro and salt, into a blender and blitz into a very smooth paste.
- Heat the oil in a wide saucepan or wok. Add the tomato-onion paste and cook it, covered, over a medium-high flame, stirring frequently, until the moisture is mostly gone, the paste looks darker, and shimmers with oil droplets. The paste should look quite sticky at this point and should not taste raw. This step should take you anywhere from 10-15 minutes.
- Add 2-3 cups of water or vegetable stock, depending on the thickness you want for your curry, along with the tofu cubes. Add salt, stir to mix everything, bring back to a boil and cover and cook another five minutes. Stir in the vegan butter.
- Serve hot or warm, garnished with cilantro.
Tracey
Can this dish be frozen?
Vaishali
Yes, but keep in mind that the tofu will become chewier.
Amanda
Very quick and easy, and really yummy! But I'm glad I 'toned down' the quantity of spices as it was quite hot enough for me at half strength. Will make this again!
Amira
This was SO good! Thanks for sharing such an easy and delicious recipe! Great for working mommies 🙂
Joely
I absolutely adore this recipe! Have been making it for multiple years now. So easy, so delicious and I quite often add other vegetables alongside the tofu.
Anonymous
Excellent recipe. And easy! Will make again. I used frozen tomatoes and added spinach, reduced water to 1 1/2 cups.
Maureen Lorna Fay
The sauce if like a gift that keeps on giving. I may have gone a bit overboard with the ginger but I will check that the next time. Since I am cooking for one I will just make the sauce and then put some aside for another moment. Wonder can I freeze it?
Emma
Wow I have cooked a lot of curries but this recipe made the best sauce I have ever tasted. I substituted tinned tomatoes as fresh ones are currently $15 a kilo in NZ and it still was amazing. Many thanks for sharing.
Vaishali
So happy you loved it, Emma!
Margi
This sounds great. You don’t have to cook the tofu more than the 5 minutes in the sauce? Should you bake or fry it first? Thank you!
Vaishali
Hi Margi, five minutes is enough! You can bake it first if you like to give it a chewier texture.
Alisa
This recipe was delicious!! I will make it again…. So happy I found it!
Vaishali
So happy you loved it, Alisa. Thanks for letting me know.
Baljinder Dhesi
Thank you, I needed a dinner in a hurry and everybody lavished this meal! I loved all your ingredients and it worked out so well! Thank you!
Vaishali
So happy to hear you loved it!
Kathryn Borden
THIS IS AMAZING. Seriously the best curry I’ve ever tasted, including in a restaurant. I added a touch more cashews because I knew it would thicken the sauce. And my sauce/paste did not reduce that much (the tomatoes were hefty!) so I didn’t bother adding any liquid at the end. I baked the tofu, and roasted cauliflower before adding to the sauce. My 20 and 23 year olds are home for break and they LOVED this. I’m going to have to make it one more time before they leave. Thank you so much!!
Vaishali
Hi Kathryn, that's so awesome to hear. So happy your family loved the tofu curry. Thanks for letting me know!
Kathryn
And as promised, I’m making a double batch right now before one of my kids goes back on Sunday! Thank you!!