Soya chunks cooked in rich onion tomato masala gravy with spices, cashew, and cream. A simple, healthy and tasty Indian style soya curry that goes well with rice, chapathi and other Indian breads.
Place the soya chunks in a bowl and fill it up with enough hot boiling water so that the soya chunks are completely immersed. Close the bowl with a lid. Leave it aside for 20 minutes.
After soaking in water, the soya chunks would appear double in volume. Squeeze all the water from the soya chunks. When we cook soya in the onion tomato gravy further in this recipe, it again increases the size. So cut soya chunks into smaller pieces.
Marinate it with pepper powder, chilli powder and salt for 10 minutes.
Prepare masala gravy- Cut the onion into chunks. The shape of sliced onion is not so important since we are going to grind it. Heat oil in a pan. Add fennel seeds and saute it.
Then, add onion and salt. Saute it until onion turns soft and light brown. Salt absorbs moisture from onion and helps onion to get cooked fast.
Add ginger and garlic. Saute it well.
Add cashew and fry it for a couple of minutes.
Then add turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, fennel powder. Fry the masalas. Add oil as required.
Add chopped tomato. Saute it until it’s soft.
Turn off the flame and let it cool down. Keep it aside.
Once cooled down, grind it in a blender. While grinding, add water if needed.
Fry soya chunks- Heat 2-3 tablespoon oil in the pan. Add marinated soya chunks. Stir fry for around 5 minutes on medium flame until it turns light brown. Keep it aside. Frying it makes it unique in the final curry.
Heat 2 tablespoon oil in the same pan. Add ground masala paste. Add garam masala and fried soya chunks. Mix it well.
Add 2 cups water. Adjust salt and mix well. Cover and cook in medium flame for around 20 - 25 minutes or until soy is cooked well and absorbed the masala. In between, check whether it has got sufficient water and give it a stir.
Once it's done, reduce the flame to low. Add fresh cream and chopped coriander leaves. Mix it well and let it boil.
Notes
Cut soya chunks into smaller pieces as possible. When smaller, it's easier to absorb the masalas and get rid of the soya's awful taste.
Incase if fresh cream is not available, you can substitute it with thick coconut milk.