©2004 Ashy Macbean. All rights reserved.
On my paneer recipes page I say that tofu can be substituted for paneer to make vegan versions of most of the recipes. This is true, of course, but I thought I'd back up the general statement by offering a concrete example. This is a vegan version of 'paneer butter masala', a typical north Indian style restaurant dish.
Not only have I substituted tofu for the paneer, I've also modified the recipe further by leaving out the yoghurt, adding nuts and adjusting the seasonings a little. I think the result tastes great.
Ingredients
200-250g of tofu
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
A 2cm piece of peeled root ginger
2 or 3 tomatoes
A small handful of cashew nuts
A small handful of almonds
1 tsp. of coriander seeds
A few black peppercorns
1 cardamom pod
3 cloves
A small piece of cinnamon stick
Half a tsp. of red chilli powder
Salt
Vegetable oil
As is often the case, we do a bit of grinding, or pounding, of ingredients in this recipe. I use a pestle and mortar for this, but feel free to do it your own way.
First, grind the dry spices (except the cinnamon stick). Add the nuts and grind them too, until the mixture begins to form a dry paste. Add the garlic and chopped ginger and grind some more.
Cut the tofu into 3 cm cubes. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the tofu until it bits of it begin to turn a nice golden colour, then remove it from the pan and leave it aside. Chop the onions finely, add them to the pan along with the cinnamon stick and fry until the onions are transparent. Add the nuts and spice mixture and stir and fry for a few minutes until you can smell the garlic cooking, then add chopped tomatoes, some water, salt and the fried tofu. Simmer for twenty minutes.
Serve with boiled rice or chapattis.