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Who says you can't have curry when trying to lose weight? At only 356 calories a serving, my vegan paneer butter masala is a perfect balance of spiciness and creaminess. If you're not watching your waistline, why not have it with naan or rice, or starchy curry dishes, such as aloo masala and dal fry!
I had the genius idea of making paneer with plant milk - I always used to always make my own paneer, so how hard could it be to make it from non-dairy milk?
Do you know what you get when you try to make paneer from soy milk?
Tofu, that's what.
So I suppose it would be more accurate to call this Tofu Non-Dairy-Butter Masala... but it doesn't really have the same ring about it, does it?
Nevertheless, regardless of what it's called, this is flimmin' gorgeous.
I mean, really, really gorgeous. Just look at it...
Couldn't you just?
OK, the tofu is not an accurate, 100% substitute for paneer but who cares? It still works perfectly. It also works wonderfully in my vegan palak paneer.
By the way, if you can't get super-firm tofu, you can press firm tofu (not silken) to firm it up. My local Asian store only has firm tofu, so when I get it home, I drain and rinse it, then wrap it in a clean tea towel, place it in one of the sinks, and then put a kilo bag of rice on top. I leave it for 20-24 hours, and then it's really firm, and ready to be used.
At some point, I'm going to try again to make paneer but I think next time, I'm going to use a nut milk, such as cashew. After all, cashews produce an excellent ricotta that really does taste like dairy, so maybe it'll work for something a bit more solid, right? Ha ha!
Vegan paneer butter masala
Is...
- gluten-free
- dairy-free
- full of Vitamin C
- creamy
- spicy
- tomatoey
- simple
- quick
- delicious
Make it as hot or as mild as you like - however you make it though, enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Paneer Butter Masala
My vegan paneer butter masala is a perfect balance of spiciness and creaminess, and works really well with Indian breads or rice, and starchy curry dishes, such as aloo masala and dal fry.
Print Pin Rate
Course: Mains
Cuisine: Indian
Diet: Gluten Free, Hindu, Low Calorie, Low Salt, Vegan, Vegetarian
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes minutes
Makes (slide to adjust): 4 servings
Calories: 356kcal
Ingredients
- 200 g extra-firm tofu drained and pressed to remove as much moisture as possible
- 1 large onion finely-chopped
- 2.5 cm piece of ginger root, roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and roughly chopped
- 5 medium-sized tomatoes roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 Indian bay leaf (tej patta)
- 1 green chilli split
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
- 2 tablespoon cashew cream
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 250 ml canned coconut milk
- 125 ml water
- 1 teaspoon kasuri methi dried fenugreek leaves
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
- dash salt
- A few fresh coriander leaves chopped
Equipment
- food processor
- blender
- wok
- kadai
Metric - US Customary
Instructions
Cut the tofu into cubes, and dry-fry in a skillet, until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
While the tofu is browning, blitz the chopped onion, ginger, and garlic in a food processor or a high-speed blender for couple of minutes, until you have a thick paste. Remove from the processor, and also set aside.
Add the tomatoes to the processor, and blitz for a few seconds, until you have a coarse purée.
Heat the oil in a wok or a kadai (or similar), add the bay leaf and the green chilli, and fry over a medium heat for a minute.
Add the onion, garlic, and ginger paste, and fry - stirring all the time - until the raw smell has gone, and the paste starts to turn golden-brown. This should take around 5-7 minutes.
Add the turmeric, and stir-fry for another 30 seconds or so.
Add the Kashmiri chilli powder and the cashew cream, and continue to stir-fry for another couple of minutes.
Add the puréed tomatoes and palm sugar, mix well, reduce the heat slightly, and continue to cook until the oil starts to separate out (around 5 mins).
Mix in the ground coriander and garam masala, and allow to cook in for another 2 mins or so.
Add the coconut milk and water, mix well, and leave to cook for another 5-7 minutes, until the oil rises to the surface of the gravy.
Add the tofu and the methi leaves, stir, reduce the heat to its lowest setting, and simmer for 5 mins to heat the tofu.
Turn off the heat, taste, stir in the vegan butter, and season with salt.
Place into a serving dish, and sprinkle the chopped coriander over the top.
Notes
- If you don't have Indian bay, leave it out, do not sub Mediterranean bay - it's a completely different beast, and will not work in this recipe!
Nutrition Facts
Vegan Paneer Butter Masala
Amount Per Serving (1 portion)
Calories 356Calories from Fat 234
% Daily Value*
Fat 26g40%
Saturated Fat 12g60%
Sodium 112mg5%
Carbohydrates 23g8%
Fiber 5g20%
Sugar 9g10%
Protein 11g22%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Did you make this recipe?Do mention @yums0me and/or tag #yums0me - I'd love to see how yours turned out!
DisclaimerMeasurements in parenthesis are approximate; it is beyond the scope of yumsome to be able to provide pinpoint-accurate ingredient quantities for every type of measuring utensil. As a guideline however, I make the assumption that:
Further information may be found here
If you like this paneer butter masala, why not check out these other Indian yums while you're here?
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Lindsay
I admire your innovation so much and am so excited to try this! May I ask you though if you think omitting the sugar would be disastrous?
Reply
Nico
Thanks so much, Lindsay! No, do feel free to lose the sugar - it's there to balance some of the acidity of the tomatoes but the dish won't suffer without it. I really hope you love this! xx
Reply
Teresa
I will definitely try this ! Looks delicious !
I actually found this article while looking for paneer alternatives (I tasted it at an indian restaurant where they assured me it was vegan and I loved it... Until I found out it wasn't and I felt like crying haha)I'm also curious as to how it's made and if perhaps you've tried making it with cashew and how that turned out ?
Thanks for the recipe !
Reply
Nico
Oh gosh, what a disappointment - I imagine you felt pretty bad after that. I still haven't tried making 'paneer' with cashew milk... I guess I should that out, right! Hope you enjoy the recipe! xx
Reply
Genevieve
Please let me know when you propose the receipe with a cashew milk option. I'd love to minimise my soya intake. Regards. 🙂Reply
Nico
Hi Genevieve! I'm not sure it's possible to make tofu with cashew milk but perhaps Shan tofu (made with chickpea flour) would suit you better? I'll be posting a recipe for it very soon. If you haven't already, do sign up for my weekly newsletter! xx
Reply
Bindya Patel
I made this and it was amazing. I had so many compliments. Everything was on point. The only substitute i made was adding spinach instead of the methi but tasted just as good. Thank you for the sharing. Quick and easy. X
Reply
Nico
Bindya, thank you so much for letting me know - it really means a lot to me. I am so, so pleased you all loved it... high praise indeed! I'll have to try it with some spinach, thank you for the idea! xx
Reply
Choclette
Love your creativity in making tofu and cashew ricotta - and hopefully cashew paneer. I keep telling myself I'll have a go, but I've still not managed it. Really like the looks and sound of this dish - just gorgeous.
Reply
Nico
Thanks Choclette! I haven't tried the cashew paneer yet - we're moving back to Slovenia on Thursday, where I'll be having cheese-experiment fest! x
Reply
Kate | The Veg Space
Oh what a fab idea using tofu as a vegan paneer - this looks really rich and creamy, delicious!
Reply
Nico
It really is creamy and delicious, Kate! I must admit, whenever I've thought about using tofu in Indian dishes before, I've been a bit dubious, which is daft, given how much I use it in Thai curries! I'm really pleased to say though, that it does indeed work very well in Indian curries too. I'm going to be using it a lot more now!
Reply
Amy Katz from Veggies Save The Day
I love Indian food and I love tofu, so I know I will love this dish! I pinned it to try very soon!
Reply
Nico
Hooray! I hope you love as much as we do, Amy... it really is fab! Thank you so much for stopping by! x
Reply
Corina
This looks amazing and I am now so much craving a curry! I'm sure that with all the lovely creamy sauce the tofu will taste similar to paneer anyway.
Reply
Nico
If you use a very, very firm tofu, Corina, the texture is not too dissimilar, and of course, paneer doesn't really have much flavour anyway, so from that perspective, yep, the tofu works really well. I'm sure there are some purists who would poo-poo the idea of using tofu instead of paneer though! LOL!
Reply
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