What do you do when you have some coconut cream and spices staring at you? It’s cold outside and your soul is calling for a warm hug to lift it up from the cold of winter. I’ll tell you what you do; you make this vegan butter chicken with some flatbread and just call it a day.
Your soul will thank me.
Indian Butter Chicken
Butter Chicken is a dish that is very dear to my heart. The first time I have ever stepped into an Indian restaurant was in Montreal; I was very reluctant to do it, but one of my friends insisted on me trying the cuisine. So I did. My friend suggested Indian Butter Chicken as an entry level curry.
Smart move. You see, when you want somebody to try a new cuisine, you always try to find a dish that is less on the exotic side and more on the familiar one. You get me bro? Sis? Son? Whatever applies to you?…
Vegan Indian Recipes
Indian cuisine has some of the most delicious dishes out there, and a lot of it can be easily turned into delicious vegan Indian recipes. Over the past year, I have made some of the most delicious Tofu Curries and this one right here is my favourite.
I was seriously in love. Soft cubes of chicken swimming in a sea of cream, butter and a perfect blend of spices? Glorious.
Here is what you need to make vegan butter chicken
- Tofu
- Coconut Cream
- Tomato Paste
- Chickpeas
- Coriander
- Spice blend (listed below)
How to make vegan Butter Chicken? This is the easiest vegan curry you can possibly make. All you have to do is make the sauce, and drop the tofu in it. Done!
Adding the tofu at the end guarantees that it will stay moist and tender. Which is the perfect consistency you want in this dish.
Now to the most serious question.
How to make the vegan butter chicken sauce? I know there are a hundred recipes out there calling for the use of cashews and all sorts of fancy ingredients to make the creamy sauce. I prefer using coconut cream. Here is how I do it:
- Cook down your onions and ginger along with your spices/seeds.
- Add coconut cream and tomato paste.
- Stir and let it cook down until it’s thick enough (to your taste of course)
That’s your sauce!
The gateway curry:
If you have never made Indian food at home then this is your gateway to an amazing culinary world.
Or even if you never made any food before. It’s that easy to make.
The result is this easy, comforting, healthy and super flavourful dish that’ll blow your friends away. But why take my word for it? Take 20 minutes of your day to make it and taste for yourself.
How good does that look right ?! Try eating it with Léa’s perfect Vegan Naan Bread!
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Enjoy,
Idriss
Vegan Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- A medium-large onion finely chopped.
- 1 15 oz can of coconut cream.
- 1 15 oz can of chickpeas.
- A handful of fresh coriander.
- 1.5 tbsp Tomato paste.
- 1 tsp of mango chutney.
- 1 454 g pack of extra firm tofu
- Some canola oil to cook.
Spices
- 1/2 tsp of coriander seeds.
- 1 tsp mustard seeds.
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds.
- 3 cardamom pods.
- 1/4 ground cloves.
- 1/2 tsp of turmeric.
- 1/2 tsp of cayenne powder.
- 1 tbsp of paprika. See notes
- salt and pepper to taste.
Instructions
- In a deep sauce pan, or pot, warm up about a tsp of canola oil.
- Add your seeds, and warm them up until they start sizzling.
- Add your chopped onion and cook until they become a little transparent.
- Now add your coconut cream, tomato paste, chutney and chickpeas and stir. Add the rest of your spices and stir.
- Cook for about 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens and add Tofu. And cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to your taste.
- Using your hands break the fresh coriander and garnish.
- Serve warm with some flat bread and enjoy.
Recipe Notes
About the color: I get that vivid orange color from using a Spanish Paprika that I buy from a local spice shop. The color of your curry might be a little different depending on the brands that you use.
Cost per recipe: 6.70 $ CAD
Cost per portion: 1.67$ CAD
The cost of my recipes is based on the average cost of ingredients I use. It's mostly provided as a guideline for you to understand the true savings you can make when you choose to cook at home.
Nutritional Value for 1 Serving (Makes 5)
I’m Idriss. I’m a full-time student and foodie. My wife Lea and I live in Montreal and we love to make and share simple and mostly healthy recipes that fit within a reasonable budget. All foodies are welcome!
This looks very delicious! I have never had or heard of butter chicken before. I will have to try this out soon!
You sure do ! Let me know how it goes 🙂
I’m a total meat-eater, and I agree…this sounds better than the version with chicken. The tofu must taste amazing with those spices! Thanks so much for this idea…i’ll be trying it out soon!
You’re welcome Mary Jane ! Let me know how it goes for you
You’re welcome Mary Jane ! Let me know how it goes for you 🙂
I’ve never had butter chicken before, but this looks great. it also looks like something that can be warming during the cold months
It totally is !
This is great. My son’s girlfriend is vegan and can’t eat nuts. She’ll love this
I’m glad to hear that 🙂
Looks absolutely fabulous. You have done well to create images that make all your foods look AMAZING. Well done on your blog x
Thank you so much for your kind words 🙂
I love the smell of Indianan food cooking! Thanks for sharing this recipe 🙂
Kathryn | nimblenote.blogspot.com
You’re welcome Kathryn 🙂
How much tomato paste? 1.5 teaspoon or tablespoon? Thanks! Can’t wait to make this!
Hey Cheryl ! It’s 1.5 Tsp of tomato paste. 🙂
This looks seriously amazing! I’ll have to give it a try. I don’t normally eat tofu, but the sauce does sound fantastic when paired with it!
https://fung-shui.com
It totally is ! Tofu is like a flavour sponge 😉
Can canned coconut milk be used instead of coconut cream?
Hi Shari ! Yes it can but only if you use full fat coconut milk (Thai kitchen brand is a very good one). The sauce might end up a little more watery though.
I made this dish recently (and am about to again for lunch), and have to thank you for the recipe because it’s absolutely perfect. The spices, the chutney, the coconut cream… it all comes together so perfectly. It’s wonderful, thanks so much!
You are most welcome Aleksandra! Glad you like it 🙂
Never even thought to attempt this vegan, but now that you bring it up, it does seem like the tofu would be superior to chicken. Can’t wait to try it.
Awesome ! Let me know how it goes
Some of the spices that call for seed, would I be able to use powdered spices instead? I have mustard seeds but not the other seeds, thanks so much for the recipe!
Yes you absolutely can Andrew, just keep in mind that ground spiced are more sensitive to heat therefore you should add them after you add the coconut milk, this way they won’t burn.
What’s the calorie content for a serving?
Hi Emma,
I just updated it in the post 🙂
HI there! We made this last night and it was seriously delicious! And fast! I never found coriander seed in any of the stores in our little Iowa City, but I am going to keep looking.
A couple of things:
In your narrative, you mention “Cook down your onions and ginger along with your spices/seeds.” but I didn’t see ginger in the recipe.
The color was more brick than the dramatic and gorgeous yellow-orange in your photos.. Not sure why–maybe orange isn’t a popular color right now. ? I followed all of your directions! Is there any way to make it the more colorful orange I see in your great photos? I added the turmeric–that seems to be the only orange-colored ingredient.
Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe. I can’t wait to try more of yours, especially the vegan. Also thank you for introducing me to coconut cream; what a lovely ingredient! Your website is terrific!
My god thanks for the terrific comment Laurie!
For the color issue, it really depends on your spices. I have a Spanish paprika, which is very very red and I usually put a little more than indicated in the recipe because I love it. As for the turmeric, it’s not supposed to be orange at all, it’s supposed to be yellow, exactly like yellow mustard.
My advice to you is this: Cook down your onions with and seeds together and leave the spices aside. Once you add the coconut cream, start adding them one by one until you see what is really giving you that dark color. Once you isolate that specific spice you can probably look for a better substitute 🙂
I hope this helps. Thanks for the love
I just made this, it doesn’t look anything like the picture. How did you get that vibrant red orange color??? I followed the recipe to-the-letter.
Hi Kelly,
To get that color I use a Spanish Paprika that is almost blood red in color. I buy it from a little spice shop in my neighbourhood. Spices differ in color from one brand to the other, so it’s only normal that not all dishes end up looking the same.
I will update the recipe to include this note, thanks for letting me know!