Shahi Tofu or Creamy Tofu

Shahi Tofu is cooked in the same way as we make Shahi Paneer. Shahi Paneer is one of the top curries from Punjab. It is a must-cook dish for when guests come over and it is always there on the menu in parties or weddings and other celebrations.

Just like Shahi Paneer, Shahi Tofu is cooked slowly in a tomato-based sauce and made rich with heavy fresh cream.

And both the dishes taste same too as tofu and paneer or cottage cheese are both tasteless and have a cheesy creamy texture.

See this post to know how tofu is a healthier alternative to paneer.

Veg Chili Tofu Gravy and Veg Chili Tofu (dry) are other tofu dishes that are super delicious and easy to make.

I remember my mother making shahi paneer in bulk for countless dinner feasts when all our close relatives would come over during the summer and winter break. She would use homemade malai and about a kilogram of paneer and simmer the shahi paneer slowly on low flame.

This Shahi Tofu is very much made in the same manner my mother cooks shahi paneer. You can go ahead and substitute the tofu with paneer or even with cooked tandoori chicken pieces or uncooked shreds of chicken breast.

I do not have step by step images for cooking this recipe but I will try and write the method step by step.

Ingredients:

Tofu, cubed 250 gms
3 onions, grind to paste
4-5 tomatoes, grind to paste
4-5 green chilies
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp chana masala or garam masala
salt to taste
2-3 tbsp coriander leaves
3-4 tbsp fresh cream/malai
Cooking oil 3-4 tbsp

Method:

1) Start by heating oil in a pan.
2) Now add the onion paste. Saute until its brown. Keep stirring so that it doesn't burn.
3) Put in the tomato and green chili paste.

4) Saute and let it cook until tomato seems to have separated from the oil. Add coriander leaves and red chili powder, chana masala or garam masala, salt to taste. Stir.
5) Now add the cream and mix. Put the diced tofu pieces. Turn off the gas as we don't want to cook the cream for long.

Shahi Tofu is ready!

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and cream.

Serve with hot chapatti or parathas.

What you think about this recipe?

How do you make your tofu? Or do you like to stick to the good old paneer?

Tell me all. I'd love to read what you think!

Thanks for reading! :-)

Veg Chili Tofu Gravy

Indo-Chinese is the second most sought-after cuisine in meri Dilli after the diverse North Indian cuisine.

Chinese food vans parked amidst busy sector markets or dotted aside the ever-buzzing Delhi roads, can make me happy the moment I spot one. The feeling is akin to a child spotting an ice-cream vendor. Not that I love ice-cream any less! But my appetite for Indo-Chinese is so huge that I have to stop myself from digging into it.

These food vans serve treasures of authentic Indo-Chinese food to Dilliwalas, hot, spicy with a huge menu ranging from chowmein or noodles in different sauces, bubbling soups and chili chicken or chili paneer to suit both the vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

This Veg Chili Tofu Gravy recipe is inspired by the Chinese food vans of Delhi. When I tried the Veg Chili Tofu recipe a few weeks back and served it for dinner with Veg Fried Rice, I felt the dish needed more quantity of gravy or sauce in order to be eaten with rice. So this Veg Chili Tofu Gravy recipe makes more sense when you want to serve it for dinner accompanied with rice or noodles. Read more about Tofu and its health benefits in this post. Tofu is made from soybean and is easily available in your local supermarket. Go ahead and replace the tofu with paneer or cottage cheese cubes and the taste would still be the same.

The Veg Chili Tofu recipe I posted earlier in February is better off as a starter or a snack. There is hardly any difference between the two recipes the only thing I subtracted is the chili sauce and added more corn flour to thicken the sauce and added water to make the gravy/sauce.

Difficulty: Easy

Prepping time: 20 min

Cooking time: 30 min

Ingredients:

4-5 cloves of ginger, finely chopped

2 inch piece of ginger, finely chopped

1 onion, quartered

1 big capsicum, julienne

5-6 green chilies, slit

spring onions, chopped

spring onion greens, chopped for garnish

Tofu 250gm, diced

Corn flour 4-5 tbsp

2 cups water/stock

Cooking oil

red chili powder 1 tsp

black pepper powder1 tsp

salt, to taste

soy sauce 2 tbsp

For frying Tofu cubes:

1) Coat tofu with 1 tbsp corn flour, 1/2 tsp black pepper powder, salt to taste. See how to marinate tofu before frying.

2) Heat a non-stick pan and shallow fry tofu pieces until they look  like this:

Keep aside the fried tofu cubes.

For the gravy/sauce:

1) Take the same pan used to fry tofu cubes. Add some oil and toss in the whites of spring onion. Saute until translucent. 

2) Put in the finely chopped ginger-garlic. Saute until the raw smell goes.

3) Add in the quartered onions.

4) Saute until translucent.

5) Add in the julienne capsicum and slit green chilies. Saute until the capsicum is half-cooked. Keep a little crunchy.

6) Add 1/2 tsp black pepper powder and 2 tbsp soy sauce. Stir. Pour in 2 cups of water/stock.

3) Now add 2-3 tbsp corn flour mixed in equal quantity of water. Bring to boil. As the sauce/gravy thickens, add in the fried cubes of tofu.

Veg Chili Tofu Gravy is ready!

Garnish with chopped greens of spring onions.

Serve with Veg Fried Rice or noodles.

Thanks for reading! :-)

Veg Chilli Tofu

Something amazing happened last week when I was browsing down the aisles of our local supermarket I stumbled upon Tofu. I immediately put it in into my trolley and it was one of the best food decisions I made as someone who is always on the scout for healthy cooking options.

Now what is tofu, some of you may ask. It resembles the highly valued (specially by vegetarian North Indians) paneer but is a way more healthier swap for paneer aka cottage cheese. the white soft and spongy blocks of Tofu are made from soy milk and it is a nutritionally packed food, high in iron, calcium and other micro nutrients but low in fat. :-)

A lot has been said about the health benefits of tofu, so without much ado let me share with you my first time cooking experience with tofu.

I got 500gm of fresh tofu for only AED 5 (price way less than paneer) and cooked two recipes with it and one of it was chilli tofu.

The basic rule is to treat tofu as you treat paneer and cook in the same as it tastes and looks just the same.

This chilli tofu is a vegetarian's delight cooked with vegetables like green capsicum and onion. It is a dry recipe and a spicy Indo-chinese version so we will use soy sauce and hot red chilli sauce.

It is not a quick recipe and it took me 40 min to get done with it but once the husband - M and Little M tasted it I knew it was all worth the effort and time.

I have already been getting requests from M to make the chilli tofu once again. :-)

You can serve it with fried rice which is what I did or eat it as a dry starter or even roll it up into chapattis to make a chilli tofu wrap which can be an easy lunch box snack.

Here is a step by step recipe with lots of pictures :-)


For marinating tofu:

• 250gm tofu, cubed
• 2 tbsp corn flour
• 1/4 tsp red chili and black pepper powder each
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt

For gravy:

• 1 onion, cut in squares
• 1 capsicum, cut in squares
• 1-2 spring onion greens chopped
• 1 tbsp each of ginger and garlic, finely chopped
• 5 green chilies, sliced vertically
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp hot red chili sauce or hot sauce
• 1/4 tsp each of red chili powder, black pepper
• 2 tbsp water to add in corn flour
• salt

Method

Marinating tofu

1. Start by patting dry tofu and then cut it into cubes.
2. In a mixing bowl, put the tofu cubes and add 2 tbsp corn flour, 1/4 tsp of red chili and black pepper powder each, 2 tbsp oil and a pinch of salt
3. Mix it all very gently and carefully without breaking tofu cubes.

Frying tofu

1. In a non-stick tawa or frying pan, put 2 tbsp of oil and fry marinated tofu cubes on a medium heat without breaking the cubes until golden and crisp. Make sure to not fry for more than 5 min as it will harden the tofu cubes.
2. While the tofu is being fried in the bowl in which we marinated there will be some leftover corn flour and spices add 3-4 tbsp of water to it and mix. We will use it later to thicken our gravy.

3. In another small bowl, take 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp hot red chili sauce or hot sauce, 1/4 tsp each of red chili powder, black pepper and mix with a spoon and keep aside.

Preparing the gravy

1. In a non-stick pan add 1-2 tbsp oil and add the finely chopped ginger and garlic. Stir.

2. Add the onion and capsicum.

3. On medium heat stir fry the veggies until capsicum is cooked.

4. Add the mixed sauces and salt but not too much of salt as the sauces already contain salt. Stir.

5. Add corn starch paste. Stir and check the taste and add salt or red chilli powder if required. Add the pan-fried tofu cubes. Stir.

Garnish with spring onion greens and serve hot.

I would highly recomend this recipe if you like a hot and spicy stir fry. Go ahead and try this easy recipe that will surely make you and your family happy.

Please do share your thoughts with me on this recipe and drop me a line or two about how your recipe turned out. I would love to read what you think! :-)