Tandoori vegetable skewers with chickpea Makhani sauce recipe

Butter Chicken (or Makhani) is one of the more popular Indian style dishes on curry takeaway menus, but it’s rare to see a veggie version of this classic. ‘Butter Veg’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but grilled crispy vegetable skewers dunked in a creamy butter style sauce definitely appeals to me. This recipe does take a bit of time, to make the skewers and the sauce, but trust me, it’s so worth it! The flavour and crunch of the vegetables with the thick, indulgent sauce is a perfect Friday night fake-away treat, I dare you not to love it!

Tandoori vegetable skewers with chickpea Makhani sauce recipe

Serves 4, cooking time 1 hour 20 minutes, plus 4 hours to marinade

Ingredients
For the skewers:
1 head of cauliflower, cut into chunky florets
1 green pepper, in 3cm chunks
1 red or yellow pepper, in 3cm chunks
2 tbsp. tandoori spice mix (you can buy this read made, or mix your own)
2.5cm piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 garlic cloves, finely grated
4 tbsp. natural 0% fat yogurt

For the sauce:
100g salted butter
1 ½ red onions, sliced
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2.5cm piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 tsp ground turmeric
½ tbsp. ground cumin
½ tbsp. ground coriander
Cardamom seeds from inside 3 pods (see recipe)
2 cloves
½ tsp ground fenugreek
1 tsp hot chilli powder
400g tin of chickpeas, drained
4 medium sized tomatoes, cored and chopped
3 tbsp. tomato puree
½ tsp caster sugar
1 tsp sea salt
100ml double cream

Method
First, marinade the veg for the skewers. Mix the tandoori spices, ginger, garlic and yogurt in a large bowl, and add the chopped veg.
Mix to coat the veg well, then cover and leave in the fridge to marinade for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, prepare the chickpea sauce.
In a dry pan, toast the cloves and cardamom pods gently until they smell fragrant. Remove, and crush using a spice grinder or pestle and mortar. First break them up to remove the husks from the cardamom pods, take these out, then continue to crush to a fine powder.
Heat the butter in a non-stick casserole pan. Add the onions, garlic and ginger, and cook down over a low heat for 10 minutes, or until they are softened.
Then add the ground cloves and cardamom, and other spices, and fry over a medium-high heat for 30 seconds.
Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, sugar and salt and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the tomatoes have softened. Add 200ml of cold water, cover with a lid and simmer for 10 more minutes.
Remove from the heat and blitz in a blender until smooth.
Return to the pan, and add the chickpeas. Cook over a low heat for 20 minutes, while you finish the skewers.

When you’re ready to cook, preheat a grill to 180°C, and carefully slide the vegetable pieces onto 4 large skewers, or 6 smaller ones.
Leave a small gap between each piece, and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the veg is cooked, and the marinade starts to char at the edges.
Make sure you turn them over halfway through so they’re evenly cooked.
Leave the skewers for slightly longer if, like me, you like the charred flavour. This will crisp up the veg even more. You could also cook these on a BBQ if you want to, just keep an eye on the skewers and make sure you turn them frequently to stop the veg from burning.

To serve, stir the cream through the sauce, and remove from the heat.
Take the vegetable pieces off of the skewers, and serve on top of the sauce, with rice or naan breads – delicious!

If you love curry, you’ll definitely like my 1 hour curry sauce recipe here!