Tempeh Cauliflower Potato Tamarind Curry. South Indian Coconut and tamarind curry with veggies. Vegan Glutenfree Nutfree Recipe. Can be Soyfree. Jump to Recipe
My aim with the blog is to introduce flavorful new ways to add more plant focused meals to our and your repertoire. That means making some Indian cooking simpler and more approachable. Some of these options are home meals or regional recipes that are mostly never found in Indian restaurants.
Exhibit a this Tofu Amritsari Masala which keeps getting made so many times, Exhibit b Black eyed Pea Brown Rice Peanut Pulao which has amazing flavor and texture. There are several recipes in my drafts too, that I have to edit and schedule intermittently. Sometimes they take a back seat in favor of the more popular options.
The sauce today is inspired from South Indian style Tamarind Chiken Curry. I use Tempeh for the Protein and added potatoes and cauliflower because I had to use them up and all work really well in the sauce. You can make this soyfree with more of the veggies, some cooked chickpeas/beans/lentils or chickpea tofu.
As with some regional Indian cooking, sometimes the ingredient list is longer as they use whole and ground spices in combination to create their own flavor. The sauces and curries in many regional Indian cuisines are not just sauce base + garam masala. The flavor gets built up with various spices and ingredients.
For this sauce, the dry whole spices such as coriander, cumin, fennel, fenugreek and black pepper are toasted and then ground and blended with tomato. The mixture is then added to golden onions and simmered to make a deep flavored sauce. Add veggies or tempeh or anything else and simmer to infuse the veggies with the flavor. Garnish with lemon and Serve with rice or flatbread.
Ingredients used for this Tamarind Curry and Substitute options
- I use tempeh as the protein of choice. You can use tofu, chickpeas, beans or chickpea tofu.
- Potato and cauliflower make up the rest of the veggies with the sauce. Use any seasonal veggies of choice.
- Spices: Whole Coriander, cumin, fennel, fenugreek seeds and sesame seeds are roasted and then ground for an intricate flavor. You can use ground spices if you dont have whole spices. Lightly toast them and then blend with the tomato
- Whole black peppercorns and pepper flakes/dried chili add the heat. The heat is not that in your face in the beginning as you start eating but builds up. Use less of both for less heat.
- Tamarind paste: ideally Southern indian cuisine uses fresh pulp from soaked tamarind pods. Those can be hard to find in regular stores. So use tamarind paste or chutney.
- Coconut milk makes up the sauce that is a thick sauce for the veggies and tempeh. Use less or more to preference of the sauce consistency. You can also use any other dairy milk.
- Curry leaves round up the flavor. You can find fresh curry leaves in indian stores or dried leaves on amazon.
Step by Step Photos
Toast the whole spices on a dry skillet so they get aromatic and grind easily. Grind them and then blend with the tomato ginger and tamarind.
The blended tomato and spice mixture is cooked with onion and garlic to thicken. Then the veggies are added with coconut milk to simmer and cook to preference. The sauce can get hot because of the black pepper and pepper flakes. Add in some coconut cream or cashew cream for creamier sauce and to reduce the heat.
More Indian Recipes to try
- Butter Tofu- GF
- IP Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce GF
- Instant Pot Vegan Butter Chickin(soycurls). GF – Creamy, Delicious
- Mushroom Matar Masala
- Bombay Potato and Peas
- Tofu Pasanda
- Tofu Matar Masala
- Tofu in Spinach Curry – Saag Tofu
- Vegetable Jalfrezi – Veggies in smoky tangy curry
Tempeh Cauliflower Potato Tamarind Curry
Ingredients
- 8 oz tempeh
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) cumin seeds
- 1/3 tsp (0.33 tsp) black peppercorns
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) fenugreek seeds
- 1/8 tsp (0.13 tsp) fennel seeds optional
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1/3 tsp (0.33 tsp) red pepper flakes
- 1 large or 2 small tomatoes or 1 cup diced
- 1 tsp tamarind paste or 1 tbsp tamarind chutney or pulp from fresh tamarind, or use 1 tsp lime juice + a dash of sugar
- 2 tbsp ketchup or use 1 tsp more tamarind paste
- 1/2 inch ginger
- 3/4 tsp (0.75 tsp) salt divided
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 (0.5 ) medium onion , chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic , finely chopped
- 6 to 8 (8 ) curry leaves fresh, frozen or dried
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ore regular paprika
- 1 cup (100 g) cauliflower florets
- 1 small potato , cubed
- 1 cup (236.59 ml) coconut milk
- cilantro and lemon for garnish
Instructions
- Steam the tempeh for 12 minutes. Set aside. (If using tofu, you can panfry it on a skillet for 4-5 mins)
- Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add coriander seeds, cumin seeds and black peppercorn. Roast for 2 mins or until fragrant. Add the fenugreek and fennel seeds and roast for half a min. Add sesame seeds and chili flakes and roast for a few seconds. Take off heat. Grind the mixture in a grinder(I use my nutribullet 2 blade grinder and use the same cup for wet blending later with the 4 blade). If you dont have a grinder, just blend everything in the next step with the tomato it will take a few minutes to break the spices down.
- Blend the ground spices with the tomato, ketchup, ginger and tamarind until smooth. Use a few tbsp of water if needed.
- Heat oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Add onion, curry leaves, garlic and a good pinch of salt and cook until translucent. Add the steamed tempeh and cook for a minute to brown some edges.
- Add the blended tomato+ spice mixture, paprika and 1/3 tsp salt. Mix well and cook over medium heat until the sauce is drying out and sticking to the tempeh. 7 to 10 mins
- Add the cauliflower, potato, 1/3 tsp salt and coconut milk. Mix well to incorporate, cover and cook for 11 o 13 minutes or until the veggies are cooked through and the sauce has thickened a bit. Continue to cook uncovered if the sauce is too thin or add more coconut milk for saucier.
- Taste and adjust salt, spice and flavor. Add a bit of cayenne or garam masala if needed. Garnish with cilantro and a dash of lemon. Serve with flatbread, naan or rice. As with most Indian sauces, the sauce flavor develops more on sitting for a few hours. Refrigerate for upto 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Teresa Kopel says
April 16, 2019 at 12:25 pmThis sounds great – and I have everything except the curry leaves!!!
Richa says
April 16, 2019 at 1:28 pmawesome!
Dhanya Samuel says
April 17, 2019 at 1:31 amNever used tempeh before; definitely a delicious dish to try.
Veena says
April 17, 2019 at 7:06 amVery interesting
Lallie Pillay says
April 17, 2019 at 11:03 amSounds yummy with all the ingriedients.
Tamarind gives beautiful flavour
cynthia says
April 17, 2019 at 7:56 pmLooks wonderful, Richa! How much ginger and paprika? (mentioned in instructions, but not in ingredients list)
Richa says
April 17, 2019 at 9:53 pm1/2 inch ginger and 1/2 tsp paprika.updated.
Teba says
April 18, 2019 at 1:09 amDear Richa,
I tried this recipe yesterday dinner and it’s fantastic. But, I think there is a mistake in the recipe. When you explain the instructions the recipe calls for ginger but it’s not in the ingredient list.
Also, there are two ingredients (fenugreek leaves and fennel seeds) that appear in the ingredient list but, they don’t appear in the instructions. I put those when roasting coriander, cumin and black peppercorns.
The dish is delicious. It’s always nice to “copycat” your recipes.
Thank you so much.
Richa says
April 18, 2019 at 8:48 amawesome! yes it seems like i was half asleep when i wrote down the recipe:) updating now. 🙂
Please Do leave a star rating if you loved it!!
Teba says
April 18, 2019 at 9:11 amSometimes happens!
Locely recipe.
Already rated 😉
Lee says
April 18, 2019 at 9:16 amthe fenugreek and fennel (optional) is not listed during cooking….are they also roasted then ground? OR are they used later when the tempeh is added? I assume roasting time but want to make sure
Richa says
April 18, 2019 at 9:27 amyes roasted and ground. i just updated that. usually the ingredients are listed in order they are used. So roasted for half a min before adding sesame seeds
Lee says
April 18, 2019 at 9:37 amthank you Richa!!!
Cynthia says
April 18, 2019 at 12:14 pmthanks!
Shilpa says
April 18, 2019 at 6:09 pmWhat can I use in place of sesame?? My daughter is allergic to sesame. Also can I use seitan instead of tempeh? Thanks for all the lovely recipes, Richa
Richa says
April 18, 2019 at 7:06 pmsome coconut flakes
Sue says
April 19, 2019 at 12:44 amDelicious. I did roast the veggies including beetroot and added them to the sauce, left to marinate really until later then reheated. Also added chickpeas cause I didn’t have a lot of tempeh left. Loved the combination of flavours!
Richa says
April 19, 2019 at 10:23 amyay!
Ida Moser says
April 19, 2019 at 3:55 pmThis recipe was a bit labor intensive for me but well worth the efforts. I thought that I had curry leaves in the freezer but I didn’t so i substituted fresh basil and lime. Then, I wasn’t able to locate my tamarind paste and used pomegranate syrup in it’s place. Not sure if my substitutions completely reflect the original recipe but I must say that it was quite flavorful last night and even better today—let it sit overnight for flavors to mend. I will definitely prepare this again.
Richa says
April 19, 2019 at 4:31 pmawesome!!
Sigrid Rooke Rogers says
April 26, 2019 at 6:13 pmFinally got to make this. Sooo good. I think roasting & grinding the whole spices made is extra tasty! Love every recipe I’ve tried. btw, Your books are beautiful too!
Richa says
April 26, 2019 at 6:17 pmThanks!!
Sal says
May 4, 2019 at 5:41 pmWhat can I substitute for curry leafs? I can’t find any around here =\
Richa says
May 4, 2019 at 9:00 pmjust omit
Nery says
August 13, 2020 at 9:50 amIf I want to substitute Curry for the curry leaves. how much curry should I use?
Richa says
August 13, 2020 at 1:17 pmCurry leaves are different than curry(which I don’t know what you mean , curry powder? Thai red curry paste ? ) just omit the curry leaves , there isn’t a good sub
Sal says
May 7, 2019 at 1:42 pmThis was great! The smell of the roasting spices was amazing. I used way less smoked paprika than called for which still over powered the rest of the flavor but was still good! Next time I just might not add any. Thanks for sharing!
Richa says
May 7, 2019 at 2:29 pmawesome! it should roast out a bit, but yes adjust the spices to preference.
Teresa Kopel says
May 28, 2019 at 8:06 pmFinally made this tonight and we loved it!!! Omitted the oil and potato. I used a lot more cauliflower so I doubled the sauce. Served it over brown basmati rice. Totally forgot the cilantro and lemon juice to finish – next time!!! Now, what to make next???
Richa says
May 28, 2019 at 9:23 pmawesome!
Cassie Autumn Tran says
May 14, 2019 at 8:11 pmCurry is one of my favorite foods, but I have never experimented with tamarind before! I would love to try this recipe with sweet potatoes and organic tempeh or even some vegan chicken. Sounds like such a delicious dinner!
Brian says
May 16, 2019 at 10:39 amI just ran across your site yesterday and this recipe today. Surprisingly I had all the ingredients on hand. Kinda of odd for your average american to have all these ingredients on hand (LOL) Anyway what would you suggest using other than Potato. I threw in Diakon and Chickpeas. I’m also going to let this sit for a day or so after cooking so the spices come out more.
Richa says
May 16, 2019 at 11:37 ami’d say 🙂 Add more of the spices, as the chickpeas are more volume than veggies so they’ll soak up more of the flavor. Daikon would be odd in there. carrots, zucchini, peppers prob better.
David Najgoldberg says
May 18, 2019 at 7:21 pmVery tasty recipe, thanks Richa! I may have added too much tamarind because I didn’t have any ketchup so it was a bit too sweet for me. I could have used more heat – next time I’ll increase the amount of chili flakes. I wasn’t crazy about the nuttiness of the tempeh in this recipe, but appreciated changing up my source of plant-based protein 🙂 – Next time I’ll try making this with tofu.
Teresa Kopel says
June 8, 2019 at 3:21 pmWhat type of potatoes do you use? White, yellow, red? I assume you don’t use russet??? Thanks so much!!!
Richa says
June 8, 2019 at 3:26 pmyellow
Teresa Kopel says
June 9, 2019 at 10:00 amThanks!!!
Peter says
July 14, 2019 at 8:26 amHi Richa
– just have made (and eaten) this dish for the first time. Everything in the list was at hand, and… this is the first curry recipe I’ve come across, ever, that I’ve added to my list of favorites immediately.
Had it today, by the way, with some buttery millet, accompanied by a cucumber kimchi – a fantastic, very satisfying meal indeed.
With thanks
-p
Monica says
July 24, 2019 at 4:08 pmGreat recipe. Loved that the tempeh was not bitter! Used one can of diced tomatoes and one can of coconut milk and all potatoes. Thanks!!!
Richa says
July 24, 2019 at 7:01 pmyay
Sue says
September 17, 2019 at 9:27 amGreat recipe. Really loved the smell of the ground roasted spices. Thanks Richa.
Richa says
September 17, 2019 at 10:43 am<3 <3
Rossella says
November 19, 2019 at 7:30 pmHi Richa, do you think that using sweet potatoes (japanese to be exact) instead of normal potatoes would make this dish too sweet considering the tamarind or should be ok? Amazing receipe thank you so much for sharing!
Richa says
November 19, 2019 at 8:42 pmshould be fine