Vegan Butter Chicken with Soy Curls
This Vegan "Butter Chicken" is creamy, flavorful, and great for a somewhat quick weeknight meal. The soy curls used make a hearty chicken substitute while keeping things vegan-friendly! *Note that From Start to Finish is an estimate that includes 20 minutes to prep your ingredients (including soaking the optional cashews), and 20 minutes to complete the recipe directions.
Ingredients
- 1 small/medium yellow onion
- 4 cloves garlic - minced
- 3 cups dehydrated soy curls* - (typically about half a bag)
- 2 cups tomato puree
- 2 cups water
- 3 teaspoon garam masala spice
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1-2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1-2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Optional: ⅓ cup raw cashews* - soaked in room temperature water overnight OR in boiling water for 20 minutes
- ¾ cup canned full-fat coconut milk
- salt, to taste
To Serve:
- Optional: cooked brown rice
Optional Toppings:
- cilantro - finely chopped
- plain coconut yogurt
Instructions
- Dice your onion
- Add your onion and garlic, along with a few splashes of water, to a large pot. Bring to high heat on the stove top. Sautee your onions and garlic until onions are tender and can be easily pierced with a fork, stirring frequently and adding more water as needed to prevent sticking. This normally takes 5-6 minutes.
- Once your onions are tender: add dehydrated soy curls, tomato puree, water, garam masala, cumin, and 1 teaspoon each of ground ginger and smoked paprika to the large pot. Bring the pot down to medium heat and stir so everything is evenly incorporated.
- While your soy curl mixture heats, add your soaked cashews and coconut milk to a blender. Blend until the mixture is nice and smooth. The cashews should have thickened your coconut milk and made it even creamier. If you are choosing to leave out the cashews, just skip this step and use coconut milk on its own for the next step.
- Pour your coconut-cashew mixture (or just your coconut milk if not using cashews) into the pot. Give it a stir and allow everything to come to a simmer. This usually takes about 10 minutes for me. By now your soy curls should be hydrated and be able to be pierced with a fork!
- Once your mixture is bubbling and simmering, give it a quick taste test and adjust the seasonings as needed! This is when you can add salt as well as more smoked paprika or ground ginger, if desired.
- Serve as desired! I like to serve this on a bed of cooked brown rice and top it with some cilantro and plain coconut yogurt.
Notes
*Dehydrated soy curls: these can be ordered on Amazon or found at some health food stores. If you don't want to search for these, check out the "Tips & Tricks" section of this blog post for another idea!
*Cashews: these are optional but will provide even more creaminess to our butter chicken! Without the cashews the coconut milk will still add some creaminess, it just won't be quite as intense.
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