Butter Tofu

Creamy, buttery & proper indulgent

This is one of those dishes that feels super indulgent without actually being (that) heavy... rich, comforting and deeply flavourful. I made this with my boyfriend and he preferred my tofu version to his chicken one… just saying.

If you’re tofu-curious or trying to reduce your meat intake without sacrificing flavour, this is a brilliant place to start. It’s also perfect for batch cooking, fakeaway nights, or cooking for people who “don’t usually like tofu” (babes, you’re just not cooking it right x).

Traditionally, butter chicken is cooked in a tandoor oven for that smoky, charred flavour. Sadly, I don’t have one of those lying around, so we’re cranking the oven up nice and hot to get as close as we can.

Serves 2 generous portions

---

INGREDIENTS

For the tofu

• 3 cloves garlic

• 1 red chilli

• 2–3 inch piece ginger

• Juice of ½ lime

• 1 block extra-firm tofu

• 2 tbsp cornflour or rice flour

• 3 tbsp Greek-style plant-based yoghurt

• 1 tsp curry powder

• 1 tsp garam masala

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• Juice of ½ lemon (or lime)

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• Salt, to taste

For the sauce

• 2 tbsp butter + a little oil (to stop it burning)

• ½ tsp cumin seeds

• 2 inch piece ginger, grated or minced

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• ½ onion (I used red)

• ½ cinnamon quill

• 3–4 cardamom pods

• 1–2 star anise

• 1 tbsp tomato purée

• 1 tsp garam masala

• 1 tsp curry powder

• ½ tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• ½ tsp chilli powder (optional)*

• 1 tin chopped tomatoes

• 3 tbsp plant-based greek-style yogurt

• 1 tsp brown sugar (optional)

• Handful of chopped coriander

• Squeeze of fresh lime, to taste

To serve

• Extra chopped coriander

• Lime wedges

• Rice, roti or naan

---

METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 220°C (fan). Roughly chop the garlic, ginger and chilli and add to a pestle and mortar with the lime juice. Pound into a paste. If you don’t have a pestle and mortar, just mince or grate everything as finely as you can.

2. Prepare the tofu! Tear the tofu into chunky, bite sized pieces - tearing rather than cutting helps create lovely craggy edges that crisp up beautifully. Add to a bowl with the paste, spices, flour, yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Toss well until fully coated.

3. Spread the tofu onto a lined baking tray and roast for around 20 minutes, or until golden and lightly charred at the edges.

4. Make the sauce! Dice the onion and mince or grate the garlic and ginger. Heat a pan over low–medium heat with a little oil and butter. Add the cumin seeds, cinnamon, star anise and cardamom pods. Fry for about a minute until fragrant.

5. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, then add the tomato purée and ground spices. Fry briefly to deepen the flavour (don’t let the spices burn).

6. Add the tinned tomatoes, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10–15 minutes.

7. Stir through the yogurt, season with salt and taste. Add a little sugar if needed. You may also need to add a splash of water if it has reduced too much. At this point, you can blitz the sauce with a stick blender - I like to only blended a little so it keeps some texture, but you can go fully smooth or leave it as is!

8. Add the roasted tofu, a squeeze of lime and the chopped coriander. Stir gently to coat everything in that glorious sauce.

9. Finish with extra coriander, fresh chilli if you like, and a wedge of lime. Serve with hot rice, roti or naan.

---

TIPS

• This is traditionally a mild curry, but if your curry powder is gentle, feel free to add chilli powder - just not the kind you’d use in a chilli con carne(!!!)

• I always keep ginger in the freezer and grate it straight from frozen. It’s a proper game changer and SO handy.

• Dried fenugreek leaf (kasuri methi) is traditionally added at the end - I couldn’t find any, but if you have it, absolutelyyyy use it.