Malai Kofta

Malai Kofta is a popular North Indian vegetarian dish consisting of paneer balls afloat a creamy gravy. It’s Main Course of Indian cuisine. In the simplest form, koftas consist of Mashed Paneer with spices. Malai means cream and kofta are fried dumpling balls. usually they are made up of mashed potatoes, with or without paneer. other kofta gravy recipes on my blog are Makhani Chicken Kofta and Chicken Kofta Curry(it’s a non-vegetarian dish)

To prepare this malai kofta recipe the koftas are made with potatoes and paneer. these melt in the mouth koftas are soaked in a creamy, sweet and mildly spiced curry. One can use store-bought Paneer or Homemade.

Makhni means cream based gravy which is prepared using tomatoes cooked along with Indian spice ,butter & cream added for a smooth texture.Koftas in India are usually served cooked in a spicy /mild, curry/gravy and are eaten with Cooked rice or a variety of  Indian flatbreads like Naan

 Ingredients For kofta

 Paneer 250 gm

 Potatoes 2 boiled & mashed

 Salt to taste

 Garam masala 1/4 tsp

 Corn flour 1 1/2 tbsp

 Refined flour 1 tbsp

 Onion Finely Chopped 1 small

 Green chilli finely Chopped 1

Ginger Grated 1 tbsp

Garam Masala 1/2 tsp

Green Coriander leaves 1 tbsp finely chopped

Cashewnut pieces 1 tbsp

Raisins 10-12

Additional refined flour 2 tbsp (for rolling)

Oil for Frying

Ingredients for gravy

Butter 150 gm

Tomato,blanched ,deseeded & pureed 500 gm

Salt to taste

Fresh  cream 100 gm

Kasoori methi powder 1 tsp

Sugar 1 tsp (optional)

Kashmiri chilli powder 1 tsp

Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Cumin powder 1 tsp

Water as required for gravy

 Method

In a bowl add all ingredients mentioned above for kofta except oil ,cashew nut & raisins mix  & make equal size ball.Take a portion of mixture flattened on palm. stuffed cashew nuts & raisins. close properly using palm make a ball.put additional flour in a plate for rolling .make balls of entire mixture & roll in additional flour.

Heat oil in a pan deep fry Fry 3 or 4 balls at a time until they are a golden brown and keep aside on an absorbent paper. In another pan add half quantity of butter .add 1 tsp of oil to prevent burning of butter.add tomato puree, red chilli powder ,sugar, Kashmiri chilli powder ,kasoori methi powder,cumin powder & cook for 5-6 min.then add water  & salt to adjust gravy consistency.  once it started boiling add rest of butter & simmer on low heat for 5-10 minutes.add fried Koftas so that koftas in a gravy. Turn off heat & add cream stir carefully .Serve with Rice/naan.

 Tips :-1)While adding salt in gravy always be careful as we added salt in kofta too.Adjust spices as per own taste buds.

 2)Stuffing of nuts are optional if one doesn’t like can skip it.

 3)If serving malai kofta later, you can just prepare the gravy and add koftas while serving. these koftas are really soft. so if you add them before and serve them later, they will break. add only if ready to serve immediately.