Malai Kofta

All the good times fly quickly and then I wonder where did the time go? My sister and family were here with me all these days and the house was filled with fun and laughter and when they left today it’s all quite again. I am in no mood do anything and was staring through my FB page going through all the updates which became boring after few minutes so just to keep my mind occupied I decided to scribble something here. Even as a child I used to hate when we leave our ancestral home after spending  summer holidays  back to the hustle and buzzle of city where my father used to work. We used to live in Kochi for a long time and many of our cousins and relatives from Kannur visit us often and when they go back I used to feel the same way but back then there was hopes that someone or the other is going to visit us soon, but now living so far from home we don’t have much family here and that’s what I miss the most here.

Coming back to the topic, I made this Malai kofta for my sister. I did pamper her with all the good foods and she liked this one in particular and she want to try this  herself in her kitchen, so I am sharing this recipe especially for her. Malai Kofta is a bit time consuming but sometimes to eat something really delicious we need to spend some extra time in kitchen and this  falls into that category. If not for the time I would have made this often as it’s a truly delicious and everyone who tasted this has loved it.

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients

For Kofta

Paneer – 250 gm (grated)

Potato – 3 medium

Carrot – 1 small (grated)

Cauliflower florets (grated) - ¼ cup

All-purpose flour/Maida – as required

salt

Oil for deep frying

For the gravy

Shahi Jeera ( Black  cumins) – 1 tsp

Tomato – 2 blanched and pureed

Onion – 3

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbs

Chilli powder – 1 ½ tsp

cumin powder - 1/4 tsp

coriander powder – 1 ½ tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Garam masala- 1 tsp

Cashew nuts – 1 fistful ( soak and grind to paste)

Cream - 1/3 cup ( use  more if you like )

salt

Method

• Pressure cook the whole potatoes with skin on for 1-2 whistles , peel the skin and grate.
• In a tawa/pan add a little oil and stir the grated carrots and cauliflower tills its slightly cooked and all the moisture is gone. 
• Transfer  this to a mixing bowl and add grated paneer and grated potato.
• Add salt and mix again and roll them into balls. 
• In a plate take some flour/maida and rol the balls in it and deep fry the balls until golden brown.
• In a saucepan add some  oil and add the shahi jeera and when it gives a nice aroma add in chopped onions.
• Saute the onions till its slightly brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and cook until the raw smells goes.
• Add chilli powder, turmeric powder, corainder powder,cumin powder, salt and cook until the raw smell of the masalas goes.
• Add the tomato puree and cook for a minute or so. 
• Finally add the cashewnut paste, fresh cream and  garam masala  and bring it to boil ane remove from fire.
• Add kofta balls and chopped corinader leaves and serve hot !

  

Enjoy with Roti/ chapathi/ Naan or even rice !

Note - Add Kofta balls to the gravy only while serving as it might loose its shape.