Thursday, June 28, 2018

Restaurant style Malai Kofta curry/Paneer Kofta

Restaurant style Malai Kofta curry/Paneer Kofta
Restaurant style Malai Kofta curry/Paneer Kofta


Restaurant style Malai Kofta curry/Paneer Kofta is always a heartthrob for many of us. Delicious koftas soaked in spicy gravy brings in a fantastic flavor and an ultimate taste.

I have always been a fan of Malai Kofta and would love to relish it with roti. Usually, in most of the restaurants, they don't add nuts and raisins to the koftas. I happen to relish this nuts and raisins mixed kofta in one restaurant and it was tasting heavenly. In every bite of Malai Kofta curry, you are sure to taste the crunchy cashews and sweetish raisins along with the spicy gravy. It was a wonderful combo of flavors, textures, and tastes. Though it was a super duper hit at my home, my husband being a fan of cashew gravy is always asking me to make Mughlai Malai kofta which comes with heavy cashew cream based gravy. I am planning to try Malai kofta with white gravy at my home soon and will definitely update you guys :)....for now, here come the ingredients for Restaurant style Malai Kofta curry/Paneer Kofta. Plan this menu for the weekend and enjoy it with your family.

Ingredients:

For Kofta

  • 1 and 1/2 cups Paneer  (around 150 grams)
  • 2 large Potatoes (boiled)
  • 3 tablespoons Besan / Gram flour +extra for dusting
  • 1 tsp Garam Masala
  • 1/2 tsp Chilli powder
  • 2 tablespoons Cashews (broken into small pieces)
  • 2 tablespoons Raisins
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt (alter as per your taste)
  • Oil for frying

For Gravy

  • 2 medium sized Onions
  • 3 Tomatoes
  • 1-inch length Ginger
  • 3-4 Garlic pods
  • 2 Green Chillies
  • 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
  • 2 Bay leaves/tej patha
  • 8-10 Cashews
  • Milk as required to soak cashews 
  • A pinch Saffron
  • 2 tablespoons Garam Masala
  • 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
  • 1/4 cup Fresh Cream
  • 2 tablespoons coriander leaves (finely chopped)
  • 2 tablespoons Oil
  • 2 tablespoons ghee
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Salt (alter as per your taste)


Method:

1) Soak saffron and cashews in warm milk.

2) In a mixing bowl, add crumbled paneer, boiled mashed potatoes, cashews, raisins, gram flour, garam masala, chilli powder and salt.  Mix them well and combine to a form of a thick dough.
Restaurant style Malai Kofta curry/Paneer Kofta



3) Roll them into equal Lemon- sized balls as shown in the picture. Take gram flour in a plate, roll the balls over it and make sure to check whether the gram flour is coated evenly.

4) Heat the oil in a wok/kadai and deep fry the balls in batches till golden brown. Once you have fried all the koftas, set them aside.
Restaurant style Malai Kofta curry/Paneer Kofta



5) For gravy, grind onion, tomato, Ginger, garlic and green chilies to a fine paste.

6) Heat oil and ghee in a kadai and add cumin seeds to crackle. Next, add few bay leaves and fry till nice aroma.

7) Transfer the onion-tomato paste and leave it to boil in medium flame with occasional stirring.

8) In the meantime, grind cashews with the saffron soaked milk to a thick paste.




9) When you see the onion-tomato paste thickening with oil separating on the sides, add Garam masala, turmeric powder, salt, and sugar. Mix well.

10) Next, add the cashew milk paste and mix well. Maintain slow flame at this time and mix slowly.

11) Add water (around 2 cups) to adjust the consistency of gravy and leave it to boil for few mins (around 5 minutes).

12) Now, you need to switch off the flame then add fresh cream and mix slowly. 

13) You can add fried koftas to this gravy Or, you can place the koftas in a flat container with some gravy it and then pour the gravy on top.

14) Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

Serve the Yummy Malai koftas with any hot flay bread or pulao
Restaurant style Malai Kofta curry/Paneer Kofta




Tips:

1) I have not used any spice powder apart from Garam masala and turmeric powder to the gravy as I wanted it to get the malai domination. You can add /2 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp Jeera powder and 1 tsp red chili powder for extra spiciness.

2) Instead of adding water, you can add milk to get the gravy consistency at step 11. Milk might get curdled easily so care needs to be taken while pouring into gravy and mixing. Maintain slow flame and pour the milk slowly as you mix it.

3) If you don't have besan to add to kofta, no worries as you can replace it with 2 crumbled bread slices or 3-5 tablespoons of breadcrumbs or 2 tablespoons of corn flour. 

4) Rolling koftas in besan flour are optional. I am coating the koftas since it might evade even 1% chance of breaking while frying but it sure is leaving some residue in the frying oil.

5) If you want the nuts stuffing to stay in the middle, then don't mix them with the paneer instead stuff them inside after rolling into kofta.

6) You can add few crushed kasuri methi leaves to the gravy.

2 comments :

  1. Well explained...I m sure the outcome will b mouthwatering.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Ankitha...give it a try and post "how it was" :)

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