Malai Kofta is one of the most popular dish in any Indian Restaurant. It is made by fried paneer balls in creamy gravy based sauce. All the restaurants have some variations for this dish. The name Malai Kofta is translated from Hindi to English as ‘fried dumplings in cream sauce’. Malai, translated as ‘cream’ or ‘creamy’ and ‘kofta’ being dumplings. We add crumbled paneer or grated paneer with mashed potato ,peas ,chopped cashews, raisins and a bit of spice and shaped this mixture into balls, which are lightly fried in oil.
Then add these kofta in a fragrantly spiced cashew-tomato-cream sauce. So this delicious recipe has two components- the fried balls and the creamy sauce.
I am sure that if you follow these simple steps you will get a perfect restaurant style Malai Kofta at home. Win those rave reviews !
Ingredients
200gm/.450lb Paneer, Grated
250 grams of Peas, Boiled
1/3 cups of Corn Flour or corn starch
1 tsp Cumin/Jeera seed
1 tsp Cumin/Jeera powder
1 tsp Coriander/Dhaniya powder
1/2 tbsp of Salt, or as per your taste
1 tbsp. chopped cashews
1 tbsp. raisins
oil for frying
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 tbsp Fresh Ginger
1/2 Cups of Cashew
1/2 Cups Heavy Cream
1/2 Cups Tomato Purée
1 tbsp of Tomato Ketchup
1 tsp Turmeric/Haldi Powder
1 tsp Coriander/Dhaniya powder
1 tsp Kitchen King Masala
1 Bay Leaf
2-3 cinnamon sticks
1/4 Teaspoon, Chili Powder. Add more or less as per your taste.
1/2 tbsp of Salt, or as per your taste
Instructions
1. As potatoes are already boiled, mash the potatoes in a bowl and then add boiled and mashed peas to the same bowl.
3. Now, add cashews, raisins, salt, coriander powder, cumin seeds, and cumin powder to the ball mixture. Properly knead all of these ingredients together again.
4. Finally, add half of the cornflour to bind the balls, mix it all well and make egg-shaped balls out of the dough. You can choose to make the koftas in whatever shape you want, though.
7. Dip the kofta balls in that cornflour mix, and make sure they are completely submerged.
8. Get a Kadhai/Deep Frying Pan/ Wok and put oil in it. Deep fry the koftas in medium heat until they are brown. Put them aside when you're done with this step.
Instructions for making the Gravy:
2. Add cashews to the pan, and sauté it for another minute.
3. Turn off the heat under the pan. Please take out the sautéed mixture, and put it in a blender. Add 1/4 cup of water, and purée it.
4. After puréeing, turn on the heat to medium, and put the pan on it. In the pan, add 1 tbsp of oil, 1 bay leaf, and 2-3 cinnamon sticks and stir it.
5. After 1 minute, add the onion - cashew purée with 1/8 cup of water in the pan. Stir the mixture for 4-5 minutes.
6. Add turmeric, chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, and salt to the blend with another 1/8 cup of water. Mix all of the spices properly into the onion-cashew purée. Let it cook for 5 minutes on medium heat.
7. Mix all of the spices properly into the onion-cashew purée. Let it cook for 5 minutes on medium heat.
9. After stirring it for 5-6 minutes, you should see oil collecting on the sides of the pan. When that happens, add the heavy cream and 1/8 cup of water. Let it cook for 5 minutes.
10. When it is done cooking, turn off the flame.
Notes
1-Make sure the oil in the kadhai/wok/deep pan is hot enough to fry the kofta. Otherwise, the koftas can break or stick to the bottom of the pan when dropped into the oil. 2-To make it richer, add butter for gravy instead of oil; it will add flavor and richness. 3-Do not use excess corn flour or corn starch. Otherwise, the malai kofta will not get the right texture. 4-Do not add koftas /fried dumplings inside the gravy before time; otherwise, it will soak up all the gravy.
