Here is a finger-licking good Punjabi-style masala soya chaap recipe —the ultimate vegetarian comfort food from North India.
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What is Soya Chaap?
Soya Chaap is mock meat or vegan meat made with soya beans. In 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.
Note: 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 flavour of the curry.
Nowadays, they are readily available in the dairy section of supermarkets, grocery stores, and frozen or canned food sections.
Ways To Use Vegan 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.
Let me share a little secret with you. You can easily substitute soya meatin any Indian paneer or chicken curry recipe.
Moreover, you will find a few exciting soya chaap recipes in my cookbook.
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 Chilli Powder, Turmeric Powder, Coriander Powder, Garam Masala, Kasuri Methi.
- Other Ingredients: Red Onion, Salt, Water, Fresh Coriander Leaves
How To Make Soya Chaap Masala
This Punjabi soya chaap recipe is a two-step process.
- Marinate and Fry the Soya Meat
- Prepare the Gravy
Marinate and Fry the Soya Meat
- Remove wooden sticks from the soya meat and cut the chaap into bite-size round or oval pieces.
- Marinate chaap with salt, ginger-garlic paste, curd, red chilli 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.
- 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.
Prepare the Gravy
- Make tomato paste – blend fresh tomatoes, ginger, garlic, Kashmiri red chilies, and hot water to a smooth paste. Keep it aside.
- To prepare gravy, 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.
- Add tomato paste, turmeric, red chilli powder, and coriander powder. Fry over low heat till oil separates from the masala.
- Add water to make gravy, kasuri methi, and garam masala. Allow the curry to simmer over low heat till the sauce thickens.
- Add fried soya chaap, mix, and simmer the curry once again covered for 5 minutes. This step ensures that chaap absorbs the flavour of the gravy.
- Garnish with fresh coriander leaves, and serve!
Serving Suggestion
Soya Chaap Curry is a main-course dish. It tastes best with lachha paratha, tandoori roti, jeera rice, or naan. Indian flatbreads are perfect for mopping the spicy flavours 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.
My Tried and 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 flavour 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 flavours.
More Indian Curry Recipes
- Kadhai Paneer
- Shahi Soya Curry
- Cauliflower Curry
- Paneer Kali Mirch
- Dahi Potato Curry
- Paneer Butter Masala
- Dhaba Style Matar Paneer
follow us on Youtube and Instagram for video recipes.
Punjabi Soya Chaap Recipe
- Heavy Bottom Kadhai
Ingredients
Ingredients For Marinade
- 4 soya chaap (soya sticks)
- 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste (get recipe)
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 2 tablespoon curd or yogurt
Ingredients For Tomato Paste
- 1 Cup tomato chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
- 4 Kashmiri red dried chilies
- ¼ Cup hot water
Ingredients For Gravy
- 6 tablespoon refined oil
- 1 bay leaf (tej patta)
- 4 green cardamom (elaichi)
- 1 black cardamom (badi elaichi)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
- 1 Cup fine chopped onion
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 Cup water, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon garam masala ( see recipe )
- 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
Instructions
- Gently remove soya chaap from the sticks. You can easily slide them using a fork. Cut the chaap into bite-size round or oval pieces.
- Marinate chaap with salt, ginger-garlic paste, curd, red chili powder, and turmeric powder. Mix to coat each piece with the marinade masala. Keep aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Heat 4 tablespoon of oil in a pan for shallow frying. Once the oil is hot, fry the soya chaap till crisp and golden from both sides. Transfer fried soya chunks to a bowl and set aside.
- Blend fresh tomatoes, ginger, garlic, Kashmiri red chilies, and hot water to a smooth paste. Keep it aside.
- Heat remaining oil in the same heavy bottom pan or kadhai.
- Add whole spices (green cardamom, black cardamom, bay leaf) and saute for 40 – 50 seconds to release their aroma. Next, add onion, and fry till golden.
- Add tomato paste, turmeric, red chili powder, and coriander powder. Fry over low heat till oil separates from the masala.
- Add 1 cup water to make gravy, kasuri methi, and garam masala. Allow the curry to simmer over low heat till the sauce thickens.
- 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.
- Serve Punjabi Soya Chaap Masala with chapati, rice or lachha paratha.
Recipe Notes:
- If you are using frozen soya chaap defrost them as per packet instructions before marinating in the spices.
- You can marinate soya chaap overnight as well.
Pooja says
Interesting Recipe! But I haven’t seen soya chaap anywhere near my place! Do you get it only in Delhi? Can you tell me where in Delhi do you get it?
Hina Gujral says
Nowadays, frozen packets of Soya Chaap are available in supermarkets like Big Bazaar, more, Hyer City, local sweet shops that sell paneer, vegetable vendors who sell paneer etc. In Delhi, it is so easily available.
Aarti says
My chaps got burnt in first 10 min before adding water ????
Don’t we should add water right after adding chaps?
Hina Gujral says
There could be many reasons for chaap to get burnt – less masala, light weight pan, or high heat. If you feel pan is scorching add 1/4 Cup of water while cooking the chaap covered.
Disha Shengale says
At first I really had no interest in having veg food, I used to have non veg all the time. One of my friend suggested me to try Soya Chaap and i loved it. It almost tastes like chicken.
Hina Gujral says
Yes, it tastes very much similar to chicken. A fabulous vegetarian source of protein.
bharat says
hy hina gujral
really like your recipe, my mouth got watering while ready the recipe itself and i have cooked by using your recipe but on the second time when i cooked soya chap i used cookme chap masala and it tested so good as your cooking style, if you can use cookme chap masala on your recipe than the food will be so easy to cooked specially for working people who have less time to cook and want to eat there favourite food.
http://www.cookme.in/product/chap-mix/
Mann says
Soya chap can be made at home if you are not getting it in the market
Iti Bansal says
How to make soya chap sticks at home?
Hina Gujral says
Will surely post the recipe soon!
Deeksha says
This Chaap Recipe looking soo delicious I definitely this chaap recipe.
Hina Gujral says
thank you so much! Glad you like it.
Kanishka Sohaal says
I LOVED IT!! Thankyou so much for these amazing recipe????
Kanishka says
I LOVED IT!! Thankyou so much for this amazing recipe????
Hina Gujral says
Thank you so much for such positive feedback.
Priyanka says
Do we have to boil the soya chaap before frying ?
Hina Gujral says
If you are using fresh Soya Chaap then no boiling. They are already soft like paneer. If you are using dry soya chaap like soya nuggets then yes, it requires boiling to soften up.
M3Kitchen says
So yummy recipe! this tends to look like a royal dish!
Hina Gujral says
It is big on flavours but very easy to make.
sandy says
This are fabulous…recipe..and it looks too delicious, sound more yummy as well…can’t wait make them and we love your info…Thanks for sharing…!
Hina Gujral says
Hope you enjoy the final dish!
Ravi says
Hi, I need soyachaap recipe. Like how much flour and soy chunks needed . Cause where I live don’t get ready made soy chap.Please reply thanks ????
Hina Gujral says
Will surely share that recipe soon!
Dean says
Thanks a lot for your brief explanation about this amazing recipe, i will surely gonna try it and share it with my family 🙂
Roli says
Fab recipe!!!
Meena says
Came out really nice
Hina Gujral says
So nice! Thank you for your feedback
Rachel Dunn says
I use less salt and make the tomato paste from a packet of cherry tomatoes. It’s delicious. Thank you
Hina Gujral says
Great idea 🙂
Julia says
This sounds delicious, and I intend to try it, now that I know what soya chaap is. I bought a box of soya chaap a while ago, and made them tonight. They were fairly big chunks on skewers, with a masala spice packet. I soaked the skewered chunks as directed, squeezed out the liquid, spread a paste of the masala spice with yoghurt over the lot, then baked them for about 20 min in my air fryer. I turned them a couple of times. They were quite tasty. However, I wondered what they should be like in the middle: mine were quite chewy, but weren’t consistently dry throughout. Could you give me an idea of what they should be? Thank you from British Columbia, Canada.
Hina Gujral says
I am really happy to read about your experience of trying out Soya Chaap. So when it comes to textures, I should be like a cooked chicken or any bird – tender and not chewy. Especially after marination and grilling/baking. However, because of its thickness soya chaap requires slow cooking so that it gets evenly cooked all over. Follow the rule of grilling a chicken or duck meat. Hope this helps!
Ronald Snider says
Very nice taste ! I made the Punjab Soy Chaap recipe using Kashmiri Red chili powder … and skipped the fresh green chilis. Maybe next time :-). Also used a small can of tomato paste (156ml or 5.5 fluid oz) and a 1/2 cup diced tomato that I happen to have frozen. All other ingredients as per the recipe. The chopped cilantro is a nice touch !!
Hina Gujral says
You made all the delicious additions to the dish.
Chirag says
I want to eat punjabi soya chaap in which resturant in udaipur plz tell me
Rachel Dunn says
Hi. I’ve noticed lots more spices have been added to this since I originally made it (back in Jan 2022). Do you have the original recipe? I don’t think it had cardamom in it…
Thanks! X
Hina Gujral says
Hello, we have revised the recipe with some changes that will make it even more delicious. Hope you like it once again even more.
Soniya Chopra says
How to use already fired soya chaap and how to remove sticks from fried frozen soya chaap??
Hina Gujral says
You can make soya chaap tikka masala with pre fried soya chaap. To remove stick, defrost or thaw the soya chaap, and use a tong or barbecue fork. Do not remove sticks while chaap is frozen, do it only once chaap softens.