Vegan Palak Tofu Paneer

Easy to prepare, delicious, healthy and creamy Palak Paneer with Tofu. Vegan and Gluten-free.

Our Vegan Palak Tofu Paneer is extremely creamy and flavourful. Cooking a delicious Indian meal at home was never so easy. This Palak Tofu Paneer tastes better than the one you could order in most restaurants. It's vegan and gluten-free. A perfect meal for the whole family that everyone will love. Serve it with rice, naan bread or pappadums.

We still named this dish as Palak Paneer even if it does not contain Paneer Cheese. We use tofu instead to make our Palak Paneer dairy-free and suitable for vegans. Paneer is not always easy to find. Of course, you could make fresh paneer at home, as it's not that difficult, but tofu is a great option to substitute the cheese in this curry. Trust me, you will love it! We love baked tofu and it goes especially good to this dish. You can follow this recipe to prepare our lovely baked tofu for a more flavourful and cheesy result or simply season the tofu with salt, pepper and coconut oil and bake it in the oven for 15 minutes at 200°C/390°F.

How do we make the Palak Sauce?

To make our palak sauce, we use two ingredients: Cashews and fresh spinach, simple right? We soak the cashews in hot water for at least 15 minutes, but you can also leave them soaking overnight. For the spinach, we blanch it in a pot of hot water. Blending both ingredients in a blender or food processor you will get an amazing creamy sauce that will later be added into our curry. Feel free to use good quality frozen spinach, as it will work as well. For a nut-free option, you can use soy or oat cream instead.

To make a good Palak Tofu Paneer, we prepare a spice mix with garam masala, coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric and of course salt and pepper. We want to make it simple for people that don't have loads of spices at home, but if you love Asian food and have the kitchen filled up with spices, you can add to our recipe cloves, ginger powder or curry powder.

Perfect meal for meal-prepping

This Palak Tofu Paneer can be made in 30 minutes, it's fairly simple to prepare, and it uses just a few ingredients. You can also bake a big batch of tofu and combine it with some other dishes for the week. If you have the sauce prepared, you will just need to cook rice to have a beautiful week-day meal.

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5 from 5 votes

Vegan Palak Tofu Paneer

Easy to prepare, delicious, healthy and creamy Palak Paneer with Tofu. Vegan and Gluten-free.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time35 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: cashews, gluten-free, indianfood, palak, spinach, Tofu, Vegan

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

Ingredients for the baked tofu

• 400 gr firm tofu
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon yeast flakes
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder

Ingredients for the Curry

• 150 gr soaked cashews
• 250-300 gr fresh spinach
• 200 ml water
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 onion diced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• thumb-size ginger minced
• 2 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon chillie powder
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

Instructions

Baked "Cheesy" Tofu

• Set the oven to 200°C/390°F. Cut the tofu into cubes and add it to a mixing bowl. Add the soy sauce, yeast flakes, garlic powder, onion powder and ginger powder. Coat the cubes and bake for 15 minutes.

Palak Curry

• Add into a food processor or a blender jar the pre-soaked cashews, wilted spinach and the water. Blend for a couple of minutes until you have a smooth consistency.
• Heat a pan over medium heat and add one tablespoon of coconut oil. When heated, add the onion and cook for a few minutes until soft. Add the garlic and ginger, stir for 2 more minutes. Set to low-medium temperature and then add the tomato paste. Cook for 1 more minute then add the spices into the pan.
• Leave the spices to cook until fragrant. This shouldn't take longer than 40-50 seconds. Make sure you are not burning your spices. When fragrant, add the spinach-cashew sauce, stir until everything is combined. Adjust the consistency with water if needed. Let it simmer for 4-5 minutes and add the baked tofu.
• Before serving, for a better presentation, add a little bit of plant based cream on the top. It can be coconut, cashew, soy or oat cream.
• Serve with basmati rice, naan bread, papadaums or your favourite combination.

Notes

If the garlic and spices are browning too fast lower the heat or remove the pan from the heat and de glaze it with a little water.