Malai Kofta

fried cottage cheese dumplings in a rich creamy gravy

This recipe makes 8 koftas and about 4-5 cups of gravy. Serves about 4 people.

I love to make extra gravy, because I am not going to lie, its a bit of work. But the good news is, this gravy freezes very well up to 4-6 weeks. I always make twice the amount and freeze half. It comes in very handy  when you are cooking for a big feast or just craving some rich Indian food. I also use the same gravy to make Shahi paneer. So sometimes when I make one of the two, I make extra gravy, freeze half and a couple of weeks later make the other kind 🙂

Note: in the pictures, I have made 2 portions of the recipe (to freeze half!). So please ignore the amounts you see in photos, if you want to cook only for one time use and follow the written content.

You will need:

For the kofta:

150 g paneer – finely grated

2 small potatoes – boiled, peeled and mashed

1.5 tbsp khoya/ milk powder (optional)

25-30 raisins

1-2 green chillies very finely chopped

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

1/4 tsp garam masala powder

salt to taste

corn flour for dusting

For the gravy:

2 big red onions – finely chopped

1 tomatoes – finely chopped

12-15 cashews – broken into small pieces

2 tbsp white poppy seeds (khas khas)

2 tbsp oil

1 bay leaf

2 cardamom pods

2 cloves

1/4 tsp shahi jeera

1/2 tsp Everest shahi biryani masala

1/2 tsp kitchen king masala powder/ garam masala powder

1-2 green chilies chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1/4 tsp cumin powder

sugar/ honey

For the finishing touch for the gravy – 

1/2 tsp kasuri methi – crushed

1.5 tbsp fresh cream

1 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder

Procedure:

The gravy:

• Take the poppy seeds and cashew nut pieces in a sauce pan and add water to fill up the sauce pan and heat on medium flame till it comes to a boil.
• let this mixture boil for about 20 minutes, uncovered. Add more water if needed.
• Let it cool.

• Once cooled, discard the water and grind it to a smooth paste. Add water as needed while grinding.
• The mixture tends to fluff up, so use a bigger grinder jar.
• It is very important to make this paste separately and not grind it with the rest of the gravy because, you have to make sure the poppy seeds dont remain un-crushed.

• in a large pan, heat 2 tbsp oil and add the whole spices to it (cardamom pods, cloves, bay leaf and shahi jeera).
• When the whole spices start sizzling, add the chopped onions and cook covered on low flame. Add some salt to prevent the onions from turning brown and sticking to the pan.
• Take utmost care that the onions cook without browning.
• cook for about 6-8 minutes.

• Once done, add the remaining spices – chopped green chillies, corriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, more salt and mix well. Let saute for a minute.
• Next add the chopped tomatoes and mix well cook covered for 5 minutes.

• to this mixture add the white paste (poppy seed and cashew paste) and simmer on low flame. Keep the pan covered and cook for another 5-6 minutes.
• Turn off the flame and let the mixture cool.

• Grind the cooled mixture to a fine paste. Add water as needed. Its important that the cashews and poppy mixtures is first ground separately, otherwise it wont get crushed properly. Trust me if there was a shorter way, I would tell you 🙂
• Strain the mixture through a fine sieve/ strainer, to get a silky smooth gravy to a clean large pan and keep aside.

The Kofta:

• finely grate the paneer
• to the paneer add the mashed potatoes and knead well till a smooth dough is formed.
• to this dough add the chopped green chillies, some nutmeg powder, and just a pinch of garam masala powder and salt.
• Knead further till no grits or lumps are left.

• Divide the dough into 8 portions and roll each portion into a ball
• flatten eachball slightly and place 3-4 raisins in it. wrap around and roll the ball in a cylindrical shaped dumpling
• Make all the 8 dumplings in the same fashion.

• Heat oil for frying in a pan.
• Roll each dumpling in some cornflour till its lightly but evenly coated. The surface should look and feel very smooth. If there are cracks, roll in some more cornflour as a cracked kofta will disintegrate in the oil when you fry it.
• fry each dumpling in hot oil till dark golden brown and set aside.

Finishing touches:

• Heat the strained gravy and bring to a light boil.
• Add crushed kasuri methi leaves, nutmeg powder and salt if needed.
• In a small pan, heat butter and add kashmiri red chilli powder to warm butter and add that as tempering to the gravy.
• Turn off the heat and add fresh cream and mix well.

Serving suggestions:

• It is best to keep the koftas and the gravy separate until they are served.
• Garnish the gravy with some cream.
• When serving, add a kofta to the bowl and drown it in the gravy.
• enjoy this lip smacking malai kofta with some naan, roti, chapati, pulav or my personal favorite – roomali roti.

In the picture below: Thali for marathi new year meal – malai kofta is served in the bowl on right with some fulka roti (bottom) and coriander pilaf (in the center)