Vegan butter chicken

I must say I never tried real butter chicken. But the popularity of this dish makes me super curious. So curious that I went through the trouble of making my own chicken-style seitan. And my own vegan butter chicken without any meat or butter.

The sauce is silky and creamy, the spices are perfectly balanced. At once this vegan butter chicken became one of my favorite curries and I will make different variations of it in a future. It should also go well with tofu and vegan meatballs.

Mix seitan pieces with marinade ingredients. Add more oil if needed. Cover and put in a fridge for 30 minutes.

Note: gently toast and grind nigella, fennel, coriander seeds and cardamom pods before adding to the sauce.

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Vegan butter chicken

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Vegan seitan chicken in creamy spicy curry sauce.

• Author: Anastasia
• Prep Time: 30 min
• Cook Time: 25 min
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x
• Category: Main course
• Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

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• 400g chicken-style seitan

For marinade:

• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 tsp hot paprika
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 thin slice of ginger, minced

For the sauce:

• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 slice of ginger, minced
• 1 small red chili pepper, minced
• 1/8 tsp nigella seeds
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1 tsp ground fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
• 1 small can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1/4 C raw cashews
• 2/3 C water
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• salt and black pepper to taste
• oil for cooking

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Instructions

1. Mix seitan pieces with marinade ingredients. Add more oil if needed. Cover and put in a fridge for 30 minutes.
2. Heat just enough oil in non-stick pan. Fry seitan pieces until golden. Flip and repeat. You want to see nice crispy chicken pieces. Set aside.
3. You can use the same pan and add more oil if needed. Sauté onion until soft and translucent. Then throw in garlic, ginger, chili pepper and tomato paste.  Cook for few more minutes.
4. Now add chopped tomatoes and simmer on low until half of the liquid evaporates.
5. Meanwhile blend cashews, nutritional yeast and water in a high-speed blender until smooth.
6. Finally add the spices* and cashew mixture in a pan with tomatoes, stir and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
7. Transfer into high-speed blender and process until very-very smooth.
8. Return the sauce into a pan, slowly bring it to boil and season with salt and pepper. Add seitan pieces, cover and let it simmer for another 5 min.
9. Switch off the heat and serve.

Notes

Gently toast and grind nigella, fennel, coriander seeds and cardamom pods before adding to the sauce.

Nutrition

• Calories: 352
• Sugar: 5.4g
• Sodium: 255mg
• Fat: 17.4g
• Saturated Fat: 2.7g
• Carbohydrates: 26.8g
• Fiber: 6.2g
• Protein: 26g
• Cholesterol: 0mg