Malai kofta is a popular vegetarian Indian dish. Malai means cream and Kofta are fried dumpling balls, made up of mashed potatoes and grated paneer,which melt in the mouth, koftas are put in a creamy, sweet and mildly spiced curry,here the curry is made from ground cashew paste, onion paste and tomato puree,with simple spices, really yummy and always a hit in my house:)

Preparation time – 15 min

Cooking time – 20 min

serves – 4 +

Ingredients to prepare kofta –

Boiled potato – 2 no’s peeled and grated

Paneer – 150 gm grated

Corn flour – 3 tbs

Kova/ mawa or  – 1 tbs (or milk powder or almond powder)

Chilly powder – 2 tsp

Garam masala powder – 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

How to prepare Or to make kofta –

Add all the above ingredients in a bowl except oil, combine altogether

Mix properly.

Make medium sized balls

Fry all the koftas to golden brown and drain them on a paper napkins so that the extra oil will be absorbed and set aside.

Ingredients to prepare gravy – 

Onion paste – 1 cup onion paste, about 2 medium to large onions, pureed

Tomato puree – 1 cup (about 2 large tomatoes pureed)

Cashew nut paste – 1/4 cup (12 to 15 cashews soaked in warm water for 30 minutes and then blended to a smooth paste)

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbs

Chilly powder – 1 tsp

Garam masala powder – 3/4 tsp

Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp

Kasuri methi – 2 tsp

Salt as required

Sugar  – 2 tsp

Deep fried koftas

Dry spices – 

• 1 bay leaf/tej patta
• 1 inch cinnamon/dal chini
• 1 or 2 cardamom/badi elaichi
• a pinch of mace/jayitri
• 2-3 cloves/laung
• Fennel seeds – 1/4 tsp

How to make or to prepare Malai kofta Curry  – 

Heat a pan by adding oil in it, when it is hot add all dry spices and saute for a while

Add onion paste and fry it until the oil separates from it.

Add ginger garlic paste and fry until you get a fresh aroma

Add tomato puree and fry till oil leaves from the pan.

add all spice powders (except kasuri methi) and cashew paste, saute till  the oil starts to leave the side of the masala paste. this will take approx 9-10 minutes on a low flame.

Add 2 cup of water and bring the curry to boil by adding salt and sugar to taste.  Add kasuri methi

When curry reaches to a thick  and creamy in consistency, add the fried koftas. (you can just prepare the gravy and add koftas while serving. These koftas are really soft, if you add them before and serve them later, they will break. so add prepared kofta while you serve.)

Remove from the curry from the flame,

Garnish it with grated paneer and chopped fresh coriander leaves while serving.

Enjoy Malai kofta hot with rotis, naan, steamed basmati rice or jeera rice.

Tips – 

You can add 2 tsp of milk powder in preparation of curry which gives exact restaurant taste to the curry which is optinal along with cashew paste.

You can deep fry or shallow fry koftas .

While deep frying kofta just roll prepared kofta balls in corn flour which does’t break while deep frying.