Achari Tofu

‘Achaar’ in Hindi means Pickles. Indian pickles are usually made by preserving fruits or vegetbles in a spicy gravy and the mixture is often slow cooked with solar heat for days. I remember those days from childhood when I would watch longingly at the jar of achaar, that my mom would put under the sun in the verandah, and count the days until it was ready to be eaten. If you visit Indian restaurants, you will often see this spicy pickle being served with Naan or Roti.

This recipe got its name because it uses the same spices that are used in making achaar. It is commonly made with chicken. However, when my last tofu dish got some encouraging feedback, I decided to experiment yet again with another recipe.

Ingredients:

Tofu – 1 packet (firm) cut into 1” long pices.
Red onions chopped – 1 medium
Ginger paste/grated – 1tbsp
Cherry tomatoes – 3-4
Tomato puree – 2 tbsp
Red chilli + garlic paste – 1tbsp
Turmeric – 1tsp
Paprika – 1tsp
Cumin powder – 2tsp
Corriander powder – 1tsp
Mixed seeds (known as Panchpuran: Anise, Cumin, Onion seeds, mustard, Fenugreek) – 1tsp
Garam masala – 1tsp
Sugar & salt to taste
Curry leaves
Mustard powder or spicy Dijon mustard – 1tsp
Oil

Since I was eating Tofu, a healthy ingredient, I decided to pamper myself and make the curry a bit richer than I normally would. I learnt in this process that a rich spicy curry goes well with Tofu, which is otherwise quite a bland ingredient in itself.

If you are wondering how to make a shortcut of this recipe, get rid of the dry spices and mixed seeds and look for Achari meat masala in the international aisle of your grocery.

I started by heating some olive oil in a deep frying pan and rubbing some salt and turmeric to the tofu pieces. These were lightly fried in the oil and set aside. To the remaining oil, I added the mixed seeds and curry leaves, followed by onions, chilli-garlic paste and ginger. I didn’t have any fresh garlic at home that day, so decided to go with the chilli-garlic paste that I had bought from an Asian store some time back. After cooking this mixture for about 5 minutes, I added the cherry tomatoes (I used these because I wanted to do some less chopping) and the puree, followed by the dry spices. This cooked on for about another 5 minutes on low heat. Then I added some water and let the gravy cook on for about another 10-12 minutes. When the ingredients were well cooked, I added the tofu, increased the heat and cooked the curry to a desired consistency.

FYI – this recipe was way too spicy for the toddler at home. But sometimes mom and dad deserve food cooked specially for their taste buds as well ;-)

I don’t know if I was really hungry when I ate this or not but this was definitely the best tofu dish I had ever made I my life!