No Oil (No Electricity)Tofu Mattar

I am calling this a no electricity recipe because I made it when there was no power supply. We had a guest coming and I had planned the recipes and purchased all the required items. By the time I started to prepare lunch power supply went out thanks to the ‘jal’ cyclone in chennai. I had to grind a lot of things. For making ginger-garlic paste and cashew paste I used the ammi kallu. I grated the tomatoes and onions in the fine grater to get a semi paste like consistency. It all came out well and I served a candle light lunch.

This recipe is inspired by  a no oil mattar paneer recipe  tried by Priya Srinivasan  of enveetu kitchen (From Chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s no oil recipes ) . I rarely make paneer recipes at home and so substituted it with tofu. Tofu has lot of proteins and calcium and no fat unlike paneer. Once you like the taste of tofu you can substitute tofu in almost all paneer recipes. I have made tofu matter, tofu butter masala, chilli tofu , tofu pulao and tofu bhurji and they have all tasted as good as the paneer recipes.

The no oil recipe tasted as good the regular version. You have to tell people that you made it with out oil for them to know. This shows how much we have got addicted to the taste of oil.

I am sending this recipe to ‘Tasty tofu treats’ event conducted by dear PJ of seduce your taste buds.

No Oil Tofu Mattar

Ingredients:

1 packet ( 200 gm ) tofu

1 cup fresh/ frozen green peas

2 medium sized onions made into paste

2 medium sized tomatoes made into paste

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

2 tsp kasoori methi

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 inch stick of cinnamon

1 cardamom

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

salt as required

1/2 cup milk

10 n0. cashews made into paste

coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

1. Cut the tofu into bite sized pieces and soak in warm water with salt.
2. Heat the pan and add the whole spices. After you get the aroma, add the ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute.
3. Next add the onion paste and saute for 2 minutes. Add sugar and Kasoori methi.
4. Now add tomato paste and saute till the raw smell goes.Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala and salt.Add a cup of water followed by green peas and tofu pieces.
5. Alllow it to simmer for 8-10 minutes, till the green peas are cooked and tofu absorbs all the flavours.Now add the cashew paste. Add the milk little by little with stirring ( to avoid curdling).
6. Let it simmer for a minute or two. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/rice of your choice.