Description
This vegan butter chicken is rich, buttery, and sweet tomato-based curry, packed with chickpeas and crispy tofu. And unlike most butter chicken recipes, this vegan version is super easy to whip up and doesn’t require marinating the tofu, or anything for that matter. It’s low effort and high reward!
Ingredients
Baked Tofu
- 1 package extra-firm or high-protein tofu
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt
Butter Curry
- 5 tbsp vegan butter (sub with olive oil)
- 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped*
- 5 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 2” piece ginger, finely grated
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 2 tsp kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp cumin seeds or powder
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
Other Ingredients
- 1 can (13.5oz) full-fat coconut milk**
- 1 can (13.5oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- Finely minced cilantro, for garnish
- Squeeze of lemon juice, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Squeeze out any excess water from the tofu, then crumble it into small chunks on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle over a generous amount of olive and salt, toss to mix, and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.
- While the tofu bakes, prepare the curry. Heat a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat and add in the vegan butter. Once the butter is melted, add in the onion, and saute until translucent. Next, add in the garlic, ginger, and tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the garlic from burning.
- Sprinkle in the coconut sugar, kosher salt, curry powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala, cayenne pepper, and cardamom. Cook the spices for 30-60 seconds until fragrant, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
- Finally, add in the coconut milk and mix well. Reduce the heat to low and partially cover the pot with a lid. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes, or until slightly thickened. I wanted to note that it’s important to keep the lid partially over the pot, so the water from the coconut milk can evaporate. Next, add in the baked tofu and chickpeas and stir well. Continue to simmer the curry for an additional 10 minutes or until thickened and creamy.
- Serve the vegan butter chicken with a squeeze of lemon and cilantro for garnish, along with rice/flatbread/pita/even sourdough bread. Store leftovers in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Notes
*While it is traditional to use onions in butter chicken, I’ve made it several times without, and you can’t even tell the difference. So if you feel like frying onions, go for it, if not, it won’t make a big difference if you leave it out.
**Instead of coconut milk, you can use cashew cream. Simply blend 1 ½ cups of water with ½ cup of raw cashews until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. It’ll add the same richness and creaminess to the dal. Tbh, the cashew cream tastes even better than the coconut milk, as it replicates the texture of heavy cream.