Tofu Makhani Recipe : Indian Butter Tofu

If you think, vegan curries cannot taste like restaurant curries, you are wrong! This Tofu makhani gravy is as good as any curry you get in dabhas and restaurants. It is luscious, creamy, aromatic and my go to choice, when I feel indulgent!

Makhani (meaning butter) makes everything taste better. There’s no doubt about it. And Makhani gravies are one of the most popular curries you can find in Indian restaurants. They are heavy on cream, butter and tatse heavenly. I used to crave for dairy when I cook vegan curries, because I missed the richness that dairy had to offer. But that was until I came up with this Indian butter tofu – Tofu makhani recipe.

This is by no means a quick weekday dinner style curry. It is pretty simple, but a little time consuming when compared to my other recipes. When I say restuarant style I mean it! The extra effort will surely be reflected in the taste of this curry. And vegan or not, you will love this. You can still make it during the weekdays, just get the other dishes like rotis/ rice going while the onions are caramalising , tomatoes are reducing, so you don’t feel like you have been cooking forever.

Don’t like the taste of tofu in Indian curries?

To be honest, I don’t too. tofu is a very bad substitite for paneer taste wise. I prefer adding roasted veggies when I am making Indian gravies. If you want to substituite the tofu with veggies, just roast some veggies like cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, bell peppers in the oven or an iron skillet and add it to the gravy instead of the tofu. If you aren’t vegan, just add them paneeer. But tofu soak up the flavors of the gravy quite well and taste great in the recipe.

What kind of tofu do I use in this Tofu Makhani recipe?

I prefer using the firm kind which doesn not break apart in the gravy. You could fry / bake the tofu until crisp and golden for some texture.

I am missing one or two ingredients in the recipe. Can I still do it?

Of course! But I strongly suggest following the recipe to the T to get the restuarant style taste. I have used minimal and easily available ingredients except for kitchen king masala. It is my most favorite spice mix in Indian cooking. Sometimes, I prefer this to garam masala. It gives me the restaurant taste almost everytime and they are easily available in any Indian store/ amazon. But if you don’t want to buy one, you can omit it 🙂

Can I make the gravy in advance and freeze it?

YES! I would ideally do this in the weekend when I have some extra time and freeze it for use during the weekdays. Just add the tofu or roast the veggies before serving to the gravy.

Do you have an Instant pot version of the recipe?

Unfortunately I don’t have one for now. The steps like sauteeing until the oil releases, browning the onions etc are very important to get the restaurant taste and I need to figure out how to do that in the instant pot.

Let’s see how to do this yummy Tofu makhani recipe.

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