Vegan

Chicken Angara (North Indian Smoky Creamy Chili Sauce with Tofu)

This is a vegan version of rich, smoky Indian chicken angara. This restaurant-style curry has an aromatic chili sauce with amazing, fiery flavors! Serve with naan, flatbread, or rice or over baked potato for a delicious meal. gluten-free with nut-free and soy-free options

chicken angara in the pan after cooking and adding garnish

Chicken angara is a popular dish in some North Indian restaurants. It has this thick sauce made with fried onion, yogurt, lots of spices, and either dried whole Kashmiri chilis, regular Indian chilies, or Kashmiri chili powder. The chilis add to the fiery red color of the sauce as well as to the heat.

hand scooping up chicken angara with a piece of naan

Angar means fire, and you’re incorporating fire into this dish by adding a lot of heat and color from the Kashmiri chilis and smoking it with some live fire at the end. The signature smoky flavor is incorporated using a smoking food safe charcoal. But We smoke it using a cinnamon stick. Just heat the cinnamon stick (or charcoal) until it’s red hot, then put it in a heat safe ramekin, drizzle with a little bit of oil. The ramekin actually goes into the pan of finished chicken angara, and you cover the pan with the lid, so the smoke infuses the dish.

close-up of flatbread with chicken angara on top on a plate

This is another recipe in my series where I veganize traditionally meat-heavy Indian dishes. Check out my recipes for Salli Boti ( western Indian curry with potato sticks), Rara Chicken(North Indian onion cardamom curry), Goan Peri peri Chikin tofu, and Pahadi curry (Mountain onion pepper curry), for more from this series.

As with lots of Indian curries, the flavor is in the sauce, so you can use your plant-based protein of choice and it will still taste absolutely delicious. If you don’t want to use tofu, you can use chickpea tofu, chickpeas or other white beans, veggies, vegan chicken, or seitan. And as with many restaurant style curries, it’s about patience on letting everything toast and toast really well at each step and letting the flavors develop! Let’s make this fantastic tofu Angara!

flatbread with chicken angara on top on a plate

Why You’ll Love Angara Chicken

rich, smoky, plant-based North Indian restaurant curry with so many amazing spices!
fun to make! Play with fire!
delicious one-pan meal
naturally gluten-free with easy soy-free and nut-free options

hands holding chicken angara folded into a piece of flatbread

More North Indian Curries

Punjabi Kadhi Pakora
Kali Mirch Beans
Vegetables Bhuna
Malai Palak Chicken

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Vegan

Malvani Chicken Curry (Western Indian Coconut, Kashmiri Chili, Onion Curry) gluten-free, nut-free

Explore regional Indian cuisine with me and Try this fantastic Malvani Chikin curry! Western Indian spicy caramelized onion, toasted coconut and kashmiri chili sauce with crisp tofu! This sauce is flavor packed and has its own malvani masala spice blend! 1-pan meal meal that’s delicious served over rice or with flatbread or naan.

malvani chicken curry in the pan after cooking

Malvani cuisine originates from the western coastal region in India. It has overlap with Maharashtrian(cuisine of state of maharashtra in India) as well as Goan cuisines and includes a lot of fish and local meat dishes. The flavors are very specific to the cuisine, with its own spice mixes (malvani masala or malvani garam masala) and cooking techniques.

I’ve been exploring amazing regional flavors from various parts of India and brining you vegan versions, simplified or inspired dishes and today we are making vegan malvani chicken curry! For the sauce base, we use a blended roasted onion and coconut mixture, which is called vatan, making our own malvani spice blend with some spices, and using crisped up tofu in place of the meat. You can use other protein such as chickpea tofu, vegan chickin or beans as well. Traditionally, you don’t add any cream to this curry, but you can add some(it will also balance out the heat), add in some cashew cream or other non-dairy cream right at the end.

close-up of malvani chicken curry in the pan after cooking

The sauce and spice mix includes a lot of Kashmiri chili powder (I know right, you need some!) and black pepper, so it can get pretty hot. You can reduce these spices to suit your heat preferences, if needed.

Like I mentioned above, we make the flavorful Malvani masala spice blend from scratch. It is so delicious! If you have access to Malvani garam masala, I recommend using it in this recipe instead of the spice mix that I’m making below, to reduce active time. Just mix it with two teaspoons of Kashmiri chili powder and use. You can use this fragrant spicy blend over roasted veggies or with beans. It’s flavorful and can be used in many ways!

Key features of Malvani Curry

Malvani masala: this spice blend and the curry are known for the deep red color. It can be made with milder chilies with deeper color like byadagi chilies and Kashmiri chilies. I am using Kashmiri chili powder for a quicker version

Vatan: the sauce made with blended caramelized onion and toasted coconut makes the base of the curry. It adds a delicious sweet toasty flavor and some texture.

Slow long cooking: the longer cooking time helps the flavors meld and the colors to show up. The sauce when well cooked will get a glaze of the deep red color and a settled flavor. Before that state, the coconut might be a stronger flavor and the sauce might be lighter.