Indian Butter Tofu

Recipe taken from : Feasting at Home - Indian Butter Chicken or Cauliflower

Ingredients

• 1 mug of rice / 2 mugs of water - serves 3
• 400g of natural tofu
• 1 tablespoon of garam masala
• 2 tablespoons ghee (or coconut or olive oil)
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• serano chilies ( or sub 1 jalapeno) split in half lengthwise, ( leave tops in tact)
• 4 fat garlic cloves- finely minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger finely minced ( or use paste)
• ½ teaspoon fennel seeds ( optional)
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds ( optional)
• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds ( optional)
• 1 can diced tomatoes or tomato puree ( or sub 2 medium tomatoes, diced with their juices)
• 200ml water or stock
• 1 tablespoon garam masala spice ( see notes)
• 2 teaspoons dried fenugreek leaves (optional, but elevates the dish substantially)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika ( do NOT use smoked paprika, if you don’t have regular, just leave it out!)
• 1 400g can coconut milk (milk and solids) see notes
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar or honey ( optional)
• little squeeze of lemon, 2 teaspoons
• corriander, optional garnish

Method

• Start the rice!
  
  
• Season tofu with salt, pepper and a little sprinkling of garam masala. Heat oil in a skillet and sear well, until golden and crispy and set aside. ( You can continue cooking the chicken all the way through in the Indian Butter Sauce in a little bit, or in the oven now.)
  
  
• Heat ghee or oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, cinnamon stick and serano chilies and saute 8-10 minutes until deeply golden. Add the garlic, ginger and optional fennel seeds, mustard seeds and cumin seeds and cook until ginger is cooked and golden, about 3 more minutes. Add the diced tomatoes (and juices) plus 1 cup water. Add all the remaining spices and salt. ( If you didn’t have cumin seeds or fennel seeds earlier, feel free to add the same amount ground, now.)
  
  
• Bring this to a gentle simmer on low heat, uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, allowing all the fragrant spices to infuse the sauce and your home. After 10 minutes it will have thickened slightly – stir in the coconut milk and simmer gently once more for 5- 10 minutes, placing the chicken into the sauce to finish cooking all the way through.
  
  
• Alternatively you can keep everything separate, allowing people to make their own “bowls” with either chicken or tofu or veggies, over the rice, topped with the fragrant Indian Butter Sauce.
  
  
• Sprinkle with fresh corriander if you like.

Comments

I did not realise how much fenugreek leaves effect the taste of a dish. I imagine this dish is very nice but on the only attempt of making, I added some brocolli last minute as it needed to be eaten… I feel it somewhat tarnished the dish…

Pictures