Punjabi Soya Chaap Recipe (2024)

If you are a soya chaap lover like me, this curry recipe is worth a try. I am sharing a finger-licking good Punjabi-style masala soya chaap recipe —the ultimate vegetarian comfort food from North India.

What is Soya Chaap?

Soya Chaap is mock meat or vegan meat made with soya beans. In Northern India, the ribs of mutton or meat are called chaap. The soya meat is wrapped around wooden sticks to give a vegetarian leg-piece-like appearance. Hence, the name soya chaap.

The soya chaap is not always gluten-free because many manufacturers use all-purpose flour to bind the dough. So read the label carefully if you want gluten-free soya meat.

Across North India, the soya sticks are creatively used to make various vegetarian dishes. The reason for their popularity is the chicken-like texture and the ability to absorb the flavor of the curry. In addition, the soya meat adds a great variety to the vegetarian menu.

Nowadays, they are readily available in the dairy section of supermarkets, grocery stores, and frozen or canned food sections. Moreover, there are brands like Urban Platter that ship them across India. I often order from them.

How To Use Soya Meat

Soya Chaap Masala Gravy is quite a popular street food across the Northern Region of India, especially in Delhi.

During the evening, many street food vendors sell rich and creamy soya chaap butter masala with naan or paper-thin roomali roti. That combination is the ultimate comfort food for a hungry soul like me. I can devour a plateful of it any day.

Let me share a little secret with you. You can easily substitute soya meat for the vegetarian or vegan version in any paneer or chicken curry recipe. Moreover, you will find a few exciting soya chaap recipes in my upcoming cookbook.

Soya Chaap is a versatile ingredient perfect for making robust Indian curries.

Ingredients Required

Soya Chaap: I use fresh or canned soya sticks for this curry recipe.

Cooking Oil: You can use ghee, refined oil, vegetable oil, or mustard oil.

Tomato Paste: A blend of fresh tomato, ginger, garlic, Kashmiri red chilies, and hot water.

Spices: Bay Leaf, Green Cardamom, Black Cardamom, Cumin Seeds, Red Chili Powder, Turmeric Powder, Coriander Powder, Garam Masala, Kasuri Methi

Other Ingredients: Red Onion, Salt, Water, Fresh Coriander Leaves

How To Make

This Punjabi soya chaap recipe is a two-step process.

1) Marinate and Fry the Soya Meat

2) Prepare the Gravy

Step 1) Remove wooden sticks from the soya meat and cut the chaap into bite-size round or oval pieces.

Step 2) Marinate chaap with salt, ginger-garlic paste, curd, red chili powder, and turmeric powder. Mix to coat each piece with the marinade masala (images 1 & 2). Keep aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour. You can marinate them overnight as well.

Step 3) Heat oil in a pan for shallow frying. Once the oil is hot, fry the soya chaap till crisp and golden from both sides (image 3). You can air-fry them as well. Transfer fried soya chunks to a bowl and set aside.

Step 4) To prepare gravy, blend fresh tomatoes, ginger, garlic, Kashmiri red chilies, and hot water to a smooth paste. Keep it aside.

Step 5) Heat oil in the same pan/kadhai. Add whole spices and saute for 40 – 50 seconds to release their aroma. Next, add onion, and fry till golden.

Step 6) Add tomato paste, turmeric, red chili powder, and coriander powder. Fry over low heat till oil separates from the masala.

Step 7) Add water to make gravy, kasuri methi, and garam masala. Allow the curry to simmer over low heat till the sauce thickens.

Step 8) Add fried soya chaap, mix, and simmer the curry once again covered for 5 minutes. This step ensures that chaap absorbs the flavor of the gravy.

Garnish with fresh coriander leaves, and serve!

My Tried & True Tips

Use a heavy bottom kadhai/casserole that can handle the heat during the slow cooking process.

If you use frozen soya sticks or mock meat, thaw them at room temperature before marinating.

Marinating and shallow frying the soya meat helps flavor penetrate deep within the layers of mock meat. Many soya chaap recipes suggest deep-frying the mock meat after marinating. I feel shallow frying is good enough.

To give a creamy texture to the gravy, you can add cooking cream, coconut milk, or thick curd/yogurt.

The soya chaap curry requires a slow cooking process. Hence, keep the gas flame between slow to medium to fry the masala.

After adding the fried soya meat, cover and simmer the curry over low heat for minutes for the soya meat to absorb the flavors.

Serving Suggestion

Soya Chaap Curry is a main-course dish. It tastes best with lachha paratha, tandoori roti, or naan. Indian flatbreads are perfect for mopping the spicy flavors of this vegetarian curry.

To make a complete Indian meal, you can serve soya chaap curry with naan, boondi raita, and kachumber salad.

Store the leftover curry in the refrigerator for 2 – 3 days. Then, reheat in a microwave or stovetop before eating.

More Indian Curry Recipes

Paneer Kali Mirch (Soya Chaap Kali Mirch)

Chicken Korma (Malai Soya Chaap)

Kadhai Paneer (Soya Chaap Handi Wala)

Paneer Butter Masala (Soya Chaap Butter Masala)

Dhaba Style Matar Paneer (Dhaba Style Soya Chaap)

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