I am all about the appliances of late, but then I’ve always been. As much as I hate to admit my dependence on material things, I will concede that in my busy home and life, and given my penchant for doing things from scratch in the kitchen, appliances like pressure cookers, slow cookers, blenders and food processors play an important role in getting my family fed. That’s why I was so excited when I found a recipe for a curry made almost entirely in a blender, while leafing through the cookbook, At Home With Madhur Jaffrey, at the public library.

So I checked it out, despite the fact that the curry is not vegan: the two main ingredients in it are eggs and yogurt. And then I turned it into a curry with a vegan spin.

For the curry base I used a paste of spices, tomatoes and cashews. And instead of the eggs, I used a rather beloved egg substitute: tofu. I still had a package of Nasoya’s Chipotle TofuBaked (stay tuned for last week’s giveaway winner) sitting around, and into the curry it went. If you don’t have this, press and bake your own tofu, by all means. No need to marinate it because the sauce is so flavorful, the tofu will soak up all of those flavors and still be delicious.

This curry is extremely vibrant: the spice combination was rather unusual, even to my Indian tastebuds, but still familiar and very pleasant. The tadka of fennel, cumin and mustard gives the dish loads of character and the chickpea flour or besan thickens and smoothens the sauce into a velvety texture that coats the tofu beautifully.

Here’s the recipe for my quick and easy — and rather foolproof — Blender Tofu Curry. If you love my Tofu Makhani, I can guarantee you’ll enjoy this one too.

4 from 1 vote Print Blender Tofu Curry Prep Time 10 mins Cook Time 20 mins Total Time 30 mins A quick and easy blender tofu curry with a sauce of tomatoes, cashews and spices coating chewy baked tofu. Course: Curry Cuisine: Indian Servings : 4 servings Author : Vaishali Honawar Ingredients 1 8- oz block of baked tofu cut into 1/4-inch cubes

1/4 cup raw cashews soaked in 1/4 cup water

Juice of 1/2 lemon

3 medium tomatoes chopped

3 tbsp chickpea flour besan

1/2 tsp cayenne

1- inch piece ginger chopped

3 tbsp curry powder use sambar powder as a substitute

1 tsp coconut oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

Salt to taste

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves Instructions Place the cashews with soaking water, lemon juice, chickpea flour,cayenne, tomatoes, ginger and curry powder into a blender and zap until you have a very smooth paste. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the mustard seeds. When they sputter, add the cumin seeds and then the fennel and stir quickly. Turn off the heat, add a cup of water and the cashew-tomato paste to the pan, and return to heat. Stir well to mix. Heat the sauce over medium heat until it simmers. Turn the heat to low and cook 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken as it cooks. Add the baked tofu and heat the sauce through. Turn off heat and sprinkle on the coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice or rotis.

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