Instant Pot Tofu Tikka Masala – A delicious Gluten-free, Vegan Tofu in Indian Tomato Onion Based sauce recipe which gets ready in no time, is a perfect weeknight meal recipe and tastes best with Rice, Naan or any Indian Flatbread of your choice.
Are you a fan of Tofu dishes?
We are!! My family loves Tofu, especially my son. He enjoys tofu in any form. Our favorite tofu dishes are
Sweet and sour crispy tofu,
Korean Braised tofu/Dubu Jorim
And now today, I am sharing one more our favorite tofu recipe – Tofu Tikka Masala in Instant Pot/Pressure cooker. I will also share the stove top and traditional pressure cooker version in recipe card in the notes section.
Traditional Indian Paneer Tikka Masala involves marinating the paneer in a spiced yogurt based masala before adding into the curry.
Here, in this recipe, I have skipped marinating step. All I did is pressed the tofu of its liquid and pan-fried in oil so that it can absorb the creamy tomato-onion based sauce while it cooks in IP.
In paneer tikka recipe, Includes dairy products like Butter and whipping cream. I have skipped these ingredients to make it 100% vegan dish and added oil instead of butter and coconut cream and cashews instead of dairy whipping cream to make it creamy and luscious.
Coconut and cashew work so well with the flavors.
Overall, this is a very easy, simple and delicious plant-based recipe. You can serve this on any parties or game days.
What makes this Instant Pot Tofu Tikka Masala Recipe so special?
Its sauce/gravy!!
Yes, the Makhni Sauce made in Instant Pot makes this recipe so delicious. It’s a little sour, a little spicy, a little sweet, creamy, rich and so d to the licious! 🙂 You won’t be able to stop licking the sauce.
This makhni sauce includes tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, red dried chilies, Whole spices like cardamom-cinnamon-cloves-cumin seeds, Cashews, and Sugar.
I have Sieved this gravy to make it more silky and smooth. You can skip this step if you wish to.
Can we make ahead this Tikka Gravy/sauce? Can we freeze this Punjabi tikka masala Gravy?
The beauty of this gravy is, you can make ahead and store it in the fridge. It stays good up to a week. It also freezes so well. Take it into airtight jar or freezer safe bags and store it in the freezer. It stays fresh up to 4 months. Yes, 4 months. Trust me. You’ll always find it in my freezer.
It is so handy and works great on busy weeknights. You just simply thaw it in the fridge night before, heat it and through some sauteed veggies or tofu, make some rice and boom…. Your dinner is ready in no time!
In this creamy Punjabi gravy, you can add any veggies of your choice like bell peppers, cauliflower, potatoes, mushrooms, etc. Just saute them and add into a gravy.
You may also try adding Chickpeas. It tastes equally great in this Punjabi gravy/sauce.
I love using firm tofu in most Indian / Asian recipes. To make curry best and flavorful, well-pressed tofu is the most important.
Here are the steps to make perfect pan-fried tofu to use it in the recipe. How to pan Fry Tofu?
- Open a tofu package, drain all the water and carefully wash tofu block with water.
- Wrap it in kitchen napkin or paper towel
- Place a heavy pan, like cast iron pan, on top and let stand for 15 minutes to press out the excess liquid.
- This step is very important to get nice, golden brown and evenly cooked Tofu.
- Cut it into bite-sized cubes.
- Then, heat some oil, around ¼ cup, in a cast iron pan. Place tofu cubes and shallow fry them from all the sides until golden and crisp.
Of course, you skip the shallow frying tofu step, but I would suggest you to try making with pan-fried tofu once. It gives a nice texture.
In this recipe, I have used Mild Mexican Whole Dried red chilies instead of chili powder. You can find it easily in any grocery stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, etc. This adds beautiful, bright and bold color with lots of flavors to the dish without adding much heat.
You can use India Kashmiri dried red whole chilies too which is available in Indian stores.
I hope you guys give this super flavorful and delicious Instant Pot Tofu Tikka Masala recipe a try soon. Do let me know in the comments section how it turned out. Enjoy!
Instant pot Tofu Tikka Masala
Ingredients
For gravy
- 3.5 cups - Tomatoes, chopped refer notes
- 1 cup - onion, chopped
- 1 - cardamom
- 1 inch - cinnamon stick
- 4 - cloves
- 1 inch - Ginger
- 5 cloves - Garlic
- 2 tablespoon Oil
- 16 grams / 3 - Whole red dried chilies
- ⅓ cup - Unsalted cashews
- 1 teaspoon - Cumin seeds
For Pan frying tofu
- 14 oz. - Firm Tofu
- Oil for pan frying the tofu.
Other ingredients
- Salt to taste
- ¼ teaspoon - Turmeric powder
- 2 teaspoon - Sugar or any sweetener of your choice
- 2 tablespoon - Coconut cream
- 1 teaspoon - Kasuri methi
- Cilantro for garnishing
Instructions
- First, drain all the water from tofu package and carefully wash tofu block with water.
- Wrap it in kitchen napkin or paper towel
- Place a heavy pan, like cast iron pan, on top and let stand for 15 minutes to press out the excess liquid.
- Heat oil in a pot. Add cumin seeds, Whole red dried chili, cinnamon stick, cloves, and cardamom. Saute for a second.
- Now add all remaining ingredients (Onion, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, and cashew) Mix well.
- Cover your Instant pot with locking lid and press the manual/pressure cook button. Set the time for 5 minutes under high pressure with pressure valve set to sealing. (I know you are thinking I didn't add water. But you don't need water. Onion and tomato will release lots of moisture which is enough to cook all the ingredients).
- Once 5 minutes is done and you see LO:00 on display screen, turn off the Instant Pot and let the pressure release naturally.
- Meanwhile lets pan fry the tofu.
- Cut the drained tofu into bite-sized cubes.
- Heat oil, around ¼ cup, in a cast iron pan.
- Add tofu cubes and shallow fry them until lightly golden brown color from all the sides. Keep it aside.
- Back to the gravy, open the IP lid.
- Blend the gravy with a hand blender or in mixer grinder until smooth.
- Sieve it through a soup strainer.
- Turn on Instant Pot on saute mode.
- Add salt, turmeric, and tofu. Let it cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
- Now add Kasuri methi and coconut cream. Mix well.
- Switch off the IP.
- Instant Pot Tofu Tikka Masala is ready. Garnish it with cilantro and Serve with Rice, Naan or Paratha. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
For Indian traditional pressure cooker version,
Take all the ingredients in a pressure cooker, cover the lid and cook them until 3 to 4 whistles. Once the gravy is cooked, open the lid, crush it, sieve through a soup strainer, Take it into a pan, add pan-fried tofu, salt, turmeric, and kasuri methi. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes over medium heat.For stovetop version,
Cook all the gravy ingredients in a pot for 10 to 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. You may need to add water. Rest follow the same gravy steps. Once the gravy is ready, take it into the same pan, add pan-fried tofu, salt, turmeric, and kasuri methi. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes over medium heat.Other Notes
If you don't have fresh tomatoes on hand, you can use canned tomatoes too. Use 28 OZ. canned tomatoes. You may need to add a little bit more sweetener as canned tomatoes are a little bit sour than the fresh one. First taste and then add sweetener accordingly. I have Sieved this gravy to make it more silky and smooth. You can skip this step if you wish to. You can make this gravy ahead of time and store it in the fridge. It stays good up to a week. It also freezes so well. Take it into airtight jar or freezer safe bags and store it in the freezer. It stays fresh up to 4 months. If you are not a tofu fan, You can add any veggies of your choice like bell peppers, cauliflower, potatoes, mushrooms, etc into the gravy. Just saute them and add into the gravy. You may also try adding boiled Chickpeas. It tastes equally great. In this recipe, I have used Mild Mexican Whole Dried red chilies instead of chili powder. You can find it easily in any grocery stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, etc. This adds beautiful, bright and bold color with lots of flavors to the dish without adding much heat. You can use India Kashmiri dried red whole chilies too which is available in Indian stores.Nutrition
Pin It For Later –
Don’t forget to check out my other Vegetarian Indian Instant Pot Recipes like
Potatoes and eggplant curry
See you all in two days. Until then Bye. <3
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