Description
This Vegan Butter Chicken is one of my favorite meals to serve for dinner. The cashew cream makes this Butter Chicken so incredibly rich and “buttery” and the chickpeas make it so meaty and hearty! Serve over Saffron Yellow Rice Pilaf.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 small yellow onion (or one large), chopped
- 2 – 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 3/4 tsp cumin, cinnamon & ginger
- 1/4 – 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 1/4 cup low sodium vegetable broth
- 2 3/4 cups plain tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar or cane sugar*
- 1/3 cup raw cashews + 3 tbsp to roast for garnish
- 3 cups chickpeas
Instructions
- Soak cashews in hot water while preparing the sauce.
- On medium high heat, in a large pan, saute the onions and garlic with the spices (garam masala, cumin, cinammon, ginger and cayenne pepper) in 1/4 cup of the vegetable broth until the onions are soft and the spices are fragrant.
- Add the remaining vegetable broth (1 cup), plain tomato sauce and sugar. Simmer for 5-8 minutes or so until fragrant.
- Rinse your cashews, In a blender or in a separate deep bowl, blend 1/3 cup of raw cashews with about 1/3 cup of the butter chicken sauce that is simmering on the stove until creamy and smooth . I used a stick immersion blender and blended the soaked cashews with a bit of the sauce in a deep bowl. If you are using a high speed blender you may need to add in about 1/2 cup of the sauce with the cashews for it to blend well. Transfer the blended sauce back into the pan with the rest of the Butter Chicken sauce.
- If using, in a separate pan, over medium high heat, roast 3 tbsps of cashews for 5 minutes in a pan (these are the cashews that you will use to garnish the butter chicken with).
- Add the chickpeas to the pan. Simmer for an additional 5 – 10 minutes. Serve Butter Chicken over yellow rice pilafor basmati rice. Garnish with roasted cashews.
Notes
1) Use your sweetener of choice in this dish. I have also make it with 1 tbsp of maple syrup and also love it this way.
2) Use freshly cooked or canned chickpeas. I like to use freshly cooked chickpeas in this recipe because they still have a bit of a “bite” to them.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: Indian