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Indian food brand Aagrah Foods has expanded its range of premium cooking sauces with a vegan-friendly Butter Chicken Tarka Paste.

The paste combines a smooth, creamy tomato base with a balance of aromatic spices and subtle sweetness. Unlike a finished curry sauce, which offers a heat-and-serve solution, a tarka pasta provides the foundation for a convenient, freshly cooked dish while enabling consumers to engage more in the cooking process.

Aagrah’s latest offering is made with slow-cooked onions, tomato, garlic, ginger and its signature bled of spices, giving home cooks the flexibility to customise dishes without the complexity of cooking from scratch.

The brand said the product is ideal for consumers seeking authentic, restaurant-quality dishes that can be prepared at home within minutes.

Though Butter Chicken is traditionally made with meat and dairy, the fully plant-based paste also caters to consumers seeking to make vegetarian and vegan alternatives to the dish by substituting chicken for a plant-based chicken alternative or tofu, and using plant-based dairy alternatives.

The launch comes as the UK ambient cooking sauce category continues to grow, now valued at over £1 billion and driven by rising interest in world cuisine and premium at-home dining.

Aagrah Foods was founded by family-owned Yorkshire-based Aagrah Restaurant Group, established in 1977. Beyond its sauces, the brand offers a broad range of Indian products including chutneys, spice blends and marinades, and breads and snacks such as naans, popadoms and an onion bhaji mix.

Shezad Aslam, managing director of Aagrah Foods, said: “Butter Chicken has long been a crowd pleaser in our restaurants, and we wanted to make that same flavour experience available for consumers at home”.

“Our new tarka paste is rich, indulgent and true to our Northern Indian roots.  We’re continuing to see a strong appetite for people wanting to cook authentically at home using  premium-quality ingredients that offer both convenience and credibility, and this new addition to our ever-expanding range meets that demand perfectly.”

The new Butter Chicken Tarka Paste is available across the UK grocery, speciality and convenience channels for £3.76 per 270g jar.