Butter Chicken Tofu Curry

Whilst the name of this recipe suggests a buttery chicken curry dish, it's actually made without chicken, butter or red-colouring usually found in traditional Indian recipes. I know Butter Chicken or Murgh Makhani is a popular and classic Indian dish. A search on Google gives 69,700,000 results for 'butter chicken'!

It still contains the classic spices including garam masala, ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin, turmeric and chili) and even some yogurt, but it's a healthy alternative that doesn't include colouring, butter or heavy cream. It's hard to make a curry that's under 300 calories as they tend to contain a lot of dairy (cream, butter) as well as sugar and salt. This recipe is only 224 calories. Other recent curries featured in my blog also have less than 300 calories: Lentil, Tofu, Kale Curry (198 calories); Mushroom Lentil Bhaji (177 calories); Pumpkin, Kale, Ginger, Tofu Curry (270 calories).

I replaced the chicken with tofu as I wanted to try out a method for turning tofu into chicken! I drained firm tofu, froze it for a couple of days, and then sliced the defrosted tofu into cubes. By draining the excess water stored in tofu and then freezing it, the defrosted version has a similar texture to chicken.

   

Of course, regular chicken can be used in this recipe (for non-vegetarians). Also, blended cashews can be added to form a thicker paste. I served the curry with brown rice and some green peas. Delicious!

Butter Chicken Tofu Curry
Makes 4
Click HERE for a printable recipe card.

Ingredients:

- 460g / 16.5oz firm tofu, cubed
- 15ml / 1tbsp oil

- 110g / 4oz onion, chopped

- 2 cloves garlic, chopped

- 5g / 1tbsp ginger, chopped
- 210g / 7.5oz carrots, grated

- 1tsp cumin

- 1tsp turmeric

- 1tsp coriander 

- 1tsp garam masala

- 1/4tsp chili powder

- 800g / 28.5oz / 1 can diced tomatoes (no added salt), blended in a food processor

- 110g / 4oz no-fat Greek yogurt 

Method:

Ahead of time, drain the tofu, freeze it for at least two days. Defrost and chop into cubes.

Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onion, garlic, ginger and grated carrot for 5 minutes. 

Add the spices and mix well.

Add the blended tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes or until bubbling.

Slowly stir in the tofu and yogurt and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve with brown rice and a serving of green veg. ENJOY!

Click HERE for a printable recipe card.

Nutritional Information: