Curry sauces are incredibly versatile in plant-based home cooking. You can use them in a bowl with grains and vegetables, on baked potatoes, and with burgers or patties, or even pasta. Tikka masala is a creamy tomato sauce often made with heavy cream or yogurt. Here I use cashews and blend them with water for a smooth vegan cream that thickens once it’s stirred into the wonderfully spiced tomato base. You can make it as mild or as spicy as you like. I often serve vegetables with this sauce on top of brown rice.
By Linda Tyler ,
Ingredients
- ½ cup raw cashews
- ½ cup red, yellow, or white onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- ¾ teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or more to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes or Kashmiri chili powder (or more to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom
- 1 (15-ounce) can fire-roasted or plain diced tomatoes
- ⅓ cup loosely packed cup fresh cilantro leaves and stems, chopped
- 5 cups steamed or cooked vegetables (red bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, kale, etc.)
- 5 cups cooked brown basmati or long-grain rice
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in water for 2 hours or pour boiling water over them, cover, let them soak for about 20 minutes, then drain them. Put the cashews in a blender with ¾ cup water. Blend on high for 30 seconds or longer, until the cashews are dissolved. Set aside cashew milk for later.
- Water sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger in a large saucepan or skillet until the onion is tender and transparent, 8 to 10 minutes. Add in the next nine ingredients (through cardamom) and cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes, until the mixture is fragrant. Add in the diced tomatoes, increase the heat, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer with the lid ajar, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, adding a little water if it gets too dry.
- Add the cashew milk and cilantro to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often, until thick. Add water, if needed, and adjust seasonings after tasting. Blend the sauce until smooth, if desired. I prefer to let it cool a bit and then blend it in my high- speed blender so that it is very smooth.
- Prepare the steamed or cooked vegetables to your liking, and stir them together with the warm curry sauce and serve with brown rice. The sauce keeps in the refrigerator for about a week. The sauce freezes well.
Nutritional Information:
Per serving (1½ cups), 592 calories, 117 g carbohydrates, 17 g protein, 8 g total fat, 1.6 g saturated fat, 126 mg sodium, 15 g fiber, 19 g sugar
Note: Nutritional information is provided as an estimate only.
Amazing and versatile. I used olive oil to saute the onions, etc. And roasted the vegetables with olive oil in oven. Worked great. I bumped up the spices a bit and put over quinoa. And kept it chunky to save time. We loved it. Needed lots more water it seemed. Will throw in rotisserie chicken the next time; more water and blend the sauce to see how all of that goes. Love having options to delicious recipes without cream. Thank you.
Excellent Plant Based Tikka Masala! Very authentic Indian spices. Such a nourishing dish with loads of vegetables, whole grain rice and the anti-inflammatory spices. Thank you Linda Tyler, this recipe will be used a lot in my kitchen!
Perfect for meatless Monday!! Wonderful recipe 💕
thanks for great new recipe, will make it tonight, your info is always super
It’s interesting that the FOK Meal Planner version uses half as much cashews. Why is that?
Where can you buy Kashmiri chili powder?
Mary, I’ve gotten Kashmiri at a local Indian grocery store.
Can’t wait to make this. Thank you. Sounds and looks incredible!
What is meant by “through cardamom”? The step 2 instructions – As in, “Add in the next nine ingredients (through cardamom) and cook”. I get what add means; but am I to strain the additional 9 items into a screen of cardamom?
Hi Veronica,
The ingredients are listed in the order they are used. So when it says use the next 9 ingredients through cardamom, it means use the next 9 ingredients in the list, with the last one being cardamom. In this case, that would be all the ingredients from tomato paste to cardamom. Hope that helps.
Just made this and it is amazing! Checked all the boxes without going out. Will try adding tofu or Tempe next time. And used frozen vegetables to make it easy.
Love love love this amazing creamy sauce, I could eat it every day!
I was very sceptical at first how it would taste, but it’s so yummy, give it a go, you won’t be disappointed
This is really delicious and easy to make.
So good and easy to make! Made a double batch of sauce and froze some.
I only blended half of the sauce and left the other half chunky.
This was fantastic! Tasted like a restaurant version. We threw in some tofu for extra protein, so next time I’ll probably double the sauce to accommodate.
Does the nutritional values also include the rice? Seems like a lot of calories for 1 1/2 cups of sauce.
Hi Trinity,
Yes, rice has been factored into the nutritional calculations. A standard main meal for most people is between 500 to 650 calories. Thanks for stopping by!
Just plugged the recipe into MyFitnessPal and the recipe came out to 444 calories, fyi.
Please make servings adjustable as do some other cooking sites. I don’t want to eat delicious dish this for five days. Thank you.
Made it as is & it was great!
Then you shouldn’t eat it
Just made a double batch of delicious Tikka Masala sauce. I too would give it 10 stars if possible. Followed it to a T except the fresh ginger I used Tsp’s instead of tsp’s (lol short sighted) however I’ll stick to that in the future as it’s just perfect to me. Thank you for the wonderful healthy recipe. I haven’t blended it tho I like the texture as is. Ticks all the boxes in my opinion
I am allergic to cashews – would white beans work here as a substitute ? I would like to make this dish.
Hi Olwyn,
While we haven’t tested this, we think blended white beans could work well. Another substitution for the cashew cream is to use the same volume of unsweetened plant milk, or low fat coconut milk. Hope that helps. Let us know how it turns out if you decide to try it!
use coconut milk instead
So I’m already confused. The AIP diet eliminated nightshades, which includes tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers, because they are inflammatory. This recipe has both. I react to all nightshades.
I agree with you Cyndi. I would appreciate guidance on foods to avoid. I wish the author would respond.
I don’t know what the AIP diet is, but if you look through the FOK story, you’ll see that they advocate a whole food, plant-based, or said a different way, a plant based, oil-free diet. You can eliminate nightshades (or any other food that you have reactions to ) and still enjoy a whole food plant-based diet. In fact, in some of the recipes, FOK contributors will give substitutions for gluten containing items or nuts, and other common allergens.
I had a craving for India food. I just made this. If I could rate it a 10 I would. The ingredients in the recipe were perfect. The cashew milk over the sauce was amazing. This Vegetable Tikka Masala tasted better than the India restaurant. Thank you Linda Tyler for sharing this awesome tasting anti-inflammatory recipe!
Healthy and delicious! Will add this to our regular rotation and share with our plant-based circles. Thank you! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️