Malai kofta recipe | Malai kofta gravy

I have had malai kofta only once in my life time. Could you believe? Yeah. This is the second time but I made it myself. First time I had in a restaurant, it was a stuffed version, with cheese or dry fruits I do not remember. I had no idea trying this at home as well. But I saw a cute serving dish at Mustafa the one you see below in which I have kept the koftas. I everytime looks at it as its really cute and I wanted to buy it. And finally once got it too and thought I should post malai kofta in this. Silly right, but somehow I tried malai kofta as well. This is a no onion no garlic version. But comes out really tasty. Its similar to the cauliflower kofta curry I had posted before. You can eat the koftas as such too or float it in this rich gravy.

Malai kofta recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Side dish
Prep Time: 20 mins    |  Cook time: 35 mins    |  Serves: 4

Ingredients For Kofta

Paneer,grated	1 Cup
Potatoes	4
Bread crumbs	3 tblsp
Garam masala	1/4 tsp
Chat masala	1/4 tsp
Pepper powder	1/4 tsp
Salt	As needed
Chopped coriander leaves	2 tbslp
Oil	For deep frying

Ingredients For Gravy

Tomato puree	1 cup, from 3-4 tomatoes
Oil/Ghee	1 tblsp
Jeera/Cumin seed	1 tsp
Cinnamon	1 small piece
Cardamom	1
Clove	1
Ginger chopped	2 tsp
Garam masala Powder	1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder	1 tsp
Coriander powder	1 & 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder	1/8 tsp
Salt	As needed
Coriander leaves,chopped	2 tbslp
Milk	1/2 cup
Cream	1/2 cup

 

Method

1. Pressure cook potato for 3 whistle with little water. Drain, cool, peel and mash it.
2. Boil water and immerse paneer cubes in it until its soft. Drain, cool and crumble it.
3. I did it in my mixer by running it once. You can do with your hands as well. If using block paneer, thaw it and grate it in a fine grater. Mix all the ingredients  needed for kofta in the ingredients table.
4. Form it to a dough. Make small equal sized balls out of it.
5. Arrange everything in a plate and heat oil meanwhile. Deep fry in oil in medium flame in batches.
6. Cook until golden in colour. Turn occasionally in between to ensure even browning and cooking. Drain in a paper towel.
7. For gravy, I ground 3 large tomatoes to get 1 cup puree. Depending on the size of the tomatoes adjust the number of tomatoes using.
8. Heat a pan with oil and temper with the whole garam masala followed by jeera. Add chopped ginger and just give it a fry. Add the pureed tomato.
9. Add the garam masala powder, red chilli powder, turmeric, salt and coriander powder. Mix and cook covered in medium flame with a lid as it will splutter a lot.
10. Mix in between to avoid burning. Once water evaporates, you can continue cooking without lid. Add more oil if need and fry.Once oil oozes out and masala becomes thick, add milk little by little and mix in low flame.
11. Do not add all at once, keep stirring and add little by little. Lastly add cream also same way little by little. Never let the gravy boil on high flame at any point as it would lead to curdling.
12. Lastly add coriander leaves and koftas. Do not mix. Let it be as such.

Notes

• Do not over cook potatoes as it will retain water and koftas will be too soft to handle.
• If you do not have bread crumbs, you can use fresh bread slices crumbled in a mixer too.
• If no bread crumbs or bread is available, add 1 tblsp maida or corn flour as binding agent.
• Add koftas a little while before serving.
• Do not let the gravy boil in high flame after adding milk and cream as it will lead to curdling of the gravy. Also do not add all at once, add little by little stirring.
• You can add kasuri methi while frying the puree for extra flavor.

Serve with hot phulkas, best! Goes well with any mild pulaos too like jeera pualo.

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