Malai Kofta – is a crumbled paneer, which is an cottage cheese, is folded into mashed potato with chopped cashews, raisins and a bit of spice. The mixture is shaped into balls, which are lightly fried in oil. The kofta are then gently simmered in a fragrantly spiced cashew-tomato-cream sauce. Frying the mixture gives the koftas a very unique taste and texture, which is slightly crunchy from outside & very soft from inside. Malai Kofta – its origin is to the Mughlai cuisine, where the dumplings were generally made of some kind of meat. The recipe has evolved over time to this vegetarian version.
Malai Kofta is made in a thick creamy gravy made from ground cashew nuts, onion, tomato and various spices. The gravy for kofta has a slight hint of sweetness also. Sometimes in restaurants malai kofta is also served with a white gravy. The gravy can be made white or brown depending on the selection of spices and ingredients. The red color in the gravy comes from the addition of tomatoes and red chili powder.
You can also add other vegetables like peas and carrots. Dry fruits like almonds and cashews can also be added to add richness and a slight crunch to the kofta. While Frying the koftas, you need to add cornstarch for giving it a crunch. For frying use hot oil otherwise the balls will crack.
There are many varieties of Kofta Recipes and other popular ones include Vegetable Kofta, Shahi Kofta, Lauki / ghia Kofta etc. The main difference comes from the ingredients used in making the kofta, as well as slightly variations in the curry preparation. Malai Kofta dish goes very with all breads like naan, roti, missi roti as well as with various varieties of rice.
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Malai Kofta
Ingredients
For Kofta Balls
- 200 gm Paneer Indian Cottage Cheeses
- 2 Large Potatoes
- 1 Carrot
- 1/2 Cup Peas
- 1 Tablespoon Corn Flour or Maida
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1/2 Teaspoon cumin Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Red Chili Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Salt or as per taste
- 1 Teaspoon Fenugreek Leaves Kasuri Methi
- Oil for Frying
For Gravy
- 2 Medium Sized Onions
- 2 Large Tomatoes
- 2 Green Chillies
- 4-5 cloves Garlic
- 1 Inch Ginger
- 10-15 Cashews
- ½ Cup Heavy Cream or Milk
- ½ tsp Red Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Coriander Powder
- ½ tsp Turmeric Powder Haldi
- ½ tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 Teaspoon Salt or as per taste
- 1 Tablespoon Oil
Instructions
Preparing the koftas
- Grate paneer in a bowl. If you are using home made paneer, take care that it is drained of water.
- Boil potatoes and add them in the bowl.
- Boil the carrot and green peas and drain all the water out of them. Add the boiled vegetables to the bowl. You can add any other vegetable of your choice, or skip adding them altogether. Adding some vegetables help the koftas to bind well and also increase the nutritional content.
- Mash all the vegetables.
- Add salt, garam masala, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and cumin powder to the mixture.
- Add corn flour or all purpose flour (maida). Optionally, you can also add some crushed nuts to the mixture.
- Mix the spices and maida nicely with the mashed vegetables.
- Divide this mixture into 8-10 equal portions. Shape these portions into round, oval or bullet shapes. Coat the koftas with plain flour or cornflour to absorb any excess moisture.
- Heat oil in a kadai or a deep frying pan over medium flame. When the oil is hot, gently slide 2-3 balls in oil from side of pan.
- Deep fry until the koftas turn golden brown. Take care when turning the koftas as they are very fragile.
- Take out the koftas and drain the excess oil on an absorbent paper and repeat the process for remaining koftas. Keep the prepared koftas aside.
Preparing the gravy
- Now we start the preparation of gravy for the kofta. Chop onions, tomatoes, green chilies, ginger and garlic.
- Heat oil in a pan and put jeera (cumin seeds) in it.
- When they start to splutter add green chilies, garlic & ginger pieces to the oil.
- Add chopped onions to the pan.
- Saute them till they become soft and golden brown.
- Then add chopped tomatoes and cook till the raw smell of tomatoes goes away.
- Set the gravy aside and let it cool down slightly.
- Roast some cashew nuts, making sure that they do not get burnt.
- Add the roasted cashews to a food processor and grind them.
- Add the prepared onion tomato gravy to a food processor or blender.
- Grind it to a smooth paste. You can add a little water if required.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and garam masala to the oil. Cook for a few seconds.
- Add the pureed gravy to the pan and mix it well with all the spices.
- Cook for a few minutes and then add salt according to taste.
- Now add heavy cream to the mixture. If you want to make the dish a little lighter, you can use milk instead of the cream.
- Add some kasuri methi to the gravy and cook it for a few minutes.
- Now add the kofta balls to the gravy. If you are serving the dish in a party, you can also keep the balls separately and add them to the gravy just before serving. Garnish the malai kofta with grated paneer and coriander leaves.
