Vegan butter chicken recipe
Here's my recipe for authentic tasting Indian vegan butter chicken made with tofu, vegan butter and cashew cream. It is full-flavored and delicious but not spicy or overwhelming.
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 187kcal
Equipment
- Saucepan or Dutch oven
- Strainer
- Grill pan (or oven)
Ingredients
For the tofu marinade
- 14 oz super-firm tofu/high-protein tofu (or extra firm tofu, pressed to remove excess water. Cut the tofu into six slabs)
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 2 tablespoon vegan yogurt
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika (or Kashmiri chili powder)
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
For the vegan butter chicken sauce
- 2 tablespoon vegan butter (divided)
- 3 cloves
- 3 green cardamom pods
- 1 black cardamom pods
- 1-inch piece cinnamon
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 medium onion (sliced)
- 3 tomatoes (cut in a large dice)
- 6 cloves garlic
- ½ inch knob ginger (roughly chopped)
- 1 teaspoon paprika (or Kashmiri chili powder)
- ¼ cup raw cashews
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
Instructions
Prep the tofu
- Place tofu slabs in a bowl. Add the ginger garlic paste, lemon juice and vegetable oil and rub it into the tofu. Set aside for 15 minutes.
- In another bowl mix the vegan yogurt, paprika, salt and ground coriander. Mix well and slather the marinade evenly over the tofu slabs. Set aside for 15 more minutes.
- Heat a grill pan or griddle and brush on oil or coat with cooking spray. Sear the tofu slabs on both sides until grill marks or brown spots appear. When cool enough to handle, cut each slab into eight cubes and set aside.
Make the sauce
- Heat 1 tablespoon vegan butter in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the spices--cloves, green and black cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaves -- and saute for a minute until the bay leaves color slightly.
- Add the onions and mix, then quickly add in the tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Add ½ cup water, any remaining tofu marinade, pumpkin seeds and/or raw cashews and paprika. Mix, and cover and cook 10 minutes or until the tomatoes get really soft.
- Remove all the contents of the pan to a blender and carefully, taking necessary precautions because this is all very hot, blend to a smooth paste.
- Strain the sauce. This is really key to creating a smooth, silky sauce, so don't skip this if you want an authentic experience.
- Return the strained sauce to the pot, add a cup of water, and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times in between.
- Stir in the maple syrup, kasoori methi, garam masala, tofu cubes and remaining 1 tablespoon vegan butter. Stir in the tofu cubes and add salt if needed.
- Bring to a boil and turn off heat. Garnish with cilantro if you wish.
Video
Notes
Tweaks for special diets:
- Keto/low-carb: The following modifications will bring down net carbs in this recipe to 6 grams, making it suitable for keto eaters: 1. Cut down to 1 tomato and add 2 tablespoon tomato paste instead with 1 additional cup of water. 2. Skip the maple syrup and use any keto-approved sweetener, like erythritol, monk fruit sweetener or stevia. 3. Skip the cashews entirely and use just ½ cup pumpkin seeds instead.
- Soy-free: Use soy-free tofu, like chickpea tofu, or add cauliflower florets or mushrooms instead of tofu. Coat them in the marinade and either grill them or bake them.
- Nut-free: Skip the cashews and use ½ cup pumpkin seeds for the sauce.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 serving vegan butter chicken | Calories: 187kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 467mg | Potassium: 405mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 846IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 2mg