A quick and easy Tofu Curry bursting with flavor for rushed weeknights or leisurely weekends when cooking is not exactly what you want to spend your time on. Most of this sauce comes together in a blender. Serve with rice for a delicious meal. Vegan, gluten-free recipe.
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.
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 Garlic 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. Here are my recipes for air fryer tofu, and for baked tofu.)
-Sugar. A little bit, to balance out the flavors.
-Salt
-Vegan butter
Vegan Butter Chicken with Tofu
Tofu Makhani
Methi Malai Paneer Tofu
Vegan Palak Paneer with Tofu
Vegan Paneer Butter Masala
Easy Tofu Curry
Vegan | Gluten-Free
Easy Tofu Curry
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion (roughly chopped)
- 3 medium tomatoes (rougly chopped)
- 1 inch knob ginger
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne (optional)
- 2 tbsp raw cashews (use pumpkin seeds for a nut-free version)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 14 oz cubes extra firm tofu (baked or air fried. You can also just use tofu without baking but try and use super firm tofu in that case. If you want to make this soy-free, sub tofu with roasted veggies)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp vegan butter
- 2 tbsp cilantro (for garnish)
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients, except the vegetable oil, tofu 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.
I made this tonight for dinner. Excellent flavour! So quick and easy! I didnt realize that the gravy I've been eating at indian buffets all of these years was so quick to make! I had to add green onions from my garden since I was out of yellow onions and it worked fine!
Will make this again and again.
This is sooo tasty and really straightforward to make seeing as you just blend everything. I find blending really gives curries a different flavour and thought this tasted restaurant style yet authentic! I used firm tofu, red and green bell peppers, and a knorr vegetable stock pot for the stock. This is now bookmarked for future - thanks for the recipe!
I'm yet to make this Vaishali but thank you in advance. What do you think it would turn out like if I put in some khatta aam pieces with the tofu ? I made a mango curry with sweet ripe mangoes which was beautiful but sweet. I'm wondering how a somewhat sour mango will do in there with the tofu ??
just found out that I dont have the fenugreek leaves on hand, only the seeds and powder, if I can use them what would be the amount? I considered the maple syrup route......I know this is going to be altered in taste when I substitute. Thank you for your help.
Just skip the fenugreek leaves in that case. The seeds are much stronger, and would make everything bitter. If you do decide to use, prob no more than an eighth of a teaspoon.
I made this last night. My kids loved it. My one daughter kept hugging and saying it was so good. I had to make a couple substitutes due to what I had on hand. I did use the better than bouillon vegetable seasoning for the broth. we didn't put in any cayenne. I didn't have cashew nuts or pumpkin seeds so I used sesame seeds. I also didn't have kasoori methi and didn't know what that tasted like. I looked up substitutes and it mentioned celery leaves or watercress. The only thing similar to that was some peppery arugula in my garden so I used that.
Thank you for a great recipe. I hope to try it again when I have all the ingredients but it was a wonderful supper.
Hi Beth, those sound like wonderful substitutions and will be helpful for other readers as well. Thanks for the feedback, and so happy you and your kids loved it.
I made the tofu curry for dinner last nite....loved it!! Thank you for another great recipe!!
So happy to hear Doreen!
Making it tonite...tks for another great recipe
Ooh thanks Vaishali! This is what I’m cooking the coming week. This sounds so delicious and easy!
Awesome looking bowl of curry. YUM!