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, Spicy tofu, Korean Braised tofu/Dubu Jorim Orange tofu broccoli 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!
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Don’t forget to check out my other Vegetarian Indian Instant Pot Recipes like Palak paneer Potatoes and eggplant curry Spinach lentil curry Daliya Quinoa pulao Vegetable Biryani Shahi chole Kale Chana Masala Quinoa Khichdi See you all in two days. Until then Bye. <3
