Smoked Tofu Masala

Written by: Amanda McCabe
40 minutes
Serves 4
The winter calls for flavours that are rich, spicy and warm and, if you’re trying it this month, vegan. This recipe works with a delicious sauce as a base that you can add lots of different things to.

Instructions

Pour boiling water on the cashew nuts in a small bowl - just enough to cover the nuts and place a plate on top of the bowl

Using a blender, make a paste by roughly blitzing the ginger, garlic, chilli and onion

Heat oil in a pan and add bay leaf - once aromatic, add all of your paste and cook for a couple of minutes until hot and fragrant

Rinse blender while this is happening, then add tomatoes and puree before roughly blitzing

Add to pan and leave to cook while you see to the cashews

Rinse blender again and churn the cashew nuts in their soaking water

After your sauce has been cooking for around five minutes, add chilli powder and garam masala and continue to cook tomatoes for a further five minutes or so

Add cashew paste, crumbled stock cube and a little more boiling water if you’d like a thinner sauce

Cook for around 25 minutes before adding: large cubes of tofu, fenugreek leaves and a swirl of honey

If you’d like a slightly creamier sauce, do not hesitate to add a splash of cream or milk alternative, to take the edge off the spicy sourness of this dish

When you’re ready to eat it, simply cook enough basmati rice with bashed cardamom pods and, when ready, stir through the zest of one lemon with plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Serve with fresh coriander and whatever else you fancy. 

Ingredients

Available in store

  • 400g smoked tofu
  • 5 large tomatoes
  • 20 cashew nuts
  • 25g tomato puree
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 small red chilli, deseeded
  • 1 white onion
  • 1 large knob of ginger
  • Boiling water
  • 1 vegetable stock cube
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp fenugreek leaves / methi
  • 1 handful of fresh, chopped coriander
  • 400g basmati rice
  • 6 green cardamom pods
  • lemon zest
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