Tandoori Tofu ‘Turkey’

This Indian Tandoori Tofu ‘Turkey’ is charred, smoky and delicious from the spices and is perfect when served with my vegan mint yogurt sauce.

Tandoori dishes are my faves in North Indian Cuisine – I’ve grown up eating them in restaurants and the smokiness is just unreal. However, it may be quite challenging to recreate the flavours at home if you don’t have a tandoor. This recipe calls for the same char and smokiness while being completely vegan and gluten free!

Tips to Make the Perfect Skewers

Remember to use extra firm tofu for this recipe. You can also trying freezing your tofu, thawing them and rinsing out any excess water to get a more spongey texture.

You can use a tofu press or anything heavy to press out the excess water. Or just wrap the tofu block in thick layers of paper towels and place something heavy on top of it. Then wrap paper towels to absorb any remaining water.

Use soy yogurt for the best taste and texture of the tandoori paste. They key step here is to marinate the tofu for them to absorb the flavours but if you’re pressed for time, you can skip it – it still tastes very flavourful!

You can find the recipe for my 5-minute Mint Coriander Chutney here.

Ingredients You Need

• extra firm tofu – always use extra firm tofu for the best texture
• vegan yogurt – I like to use soy or cashew for the best flavour. Coconut yogurt may be a little too strong and overpowering
• kashmiri chili powder – this is essential for the nice red colour of the skewers
• spices – you would need ground fennel, cumin, coriander, onion & garlic, turmeric, black pepper
• aromatics – ginger-garlic paste, onion powder, garlic powder
• lime juice – for that tanginess
• neutral oil – you can also olive oil or avocado oil. You can also omit the oil if you want to keep the recipe oil free

Allium free substitutions: Omit garlic paste, garlic powder and onion powder. Substitute it with a pinch of asafoetida (hing).

Gluten free substitutions: Use gluten free yogurt. Otherwise, all ingredients are naturally gluten free.