Saturday 11 May 2013

Malai kofta



Malai kofta is a very popular Indian dish made with cottage cheese(Paneer) stuffed with nuts and raisins in a rich creamy sauce,best served with steamed rice or flavored rice. Though I am a non-vegeterian still nine times out of ten I will prefer to have this dish over any non-veg dish. I have tasted many other versions of Malai Kofta earlier but most of the time they did not live up to expectation till the time I came across Chef Harpal Singh's recipe. The recipe I am sharing is inspired by Chef's recipe with few changes of mine.

Prep time:20 mins
Cooking time : 20 mins
Serving: 4

Method
Kofta
Saute the nuts & raisins for about 2 mins and keep aside.
Mash the grated paneer  properly then add 1 tsp corn starch, 1/2 tsp cardamom powder and make a dough.


Divide the dough in 12 parts and roll each them to form balls.

Stuff each ball with some nuts & raisins by pressing with your thumb on the centre of the paneer ball stuff and seal the ball allover  properly.
Roll them in between your palms to smoothen the surface.
Coat the balls in powdered corn starch. These are now ready to fry.

In a pan pour enough oil for frying.Once the oil is heated keep it in lower medium flame.Fry the koftas in the oil,keep stirring slowly and continuously in between ( Imp Note: the koftas should not turn brown while frying and should remain off white in colour). Keep the fried koftas aside.
 
Gravy
Heat 4 tsp of oil in a pan, add 3 bay leaves and 6 whole cardamoms.Keep the heat on medium flame.

Add the onion (finely grated or paste) and saute for about 1 min.Add the ginger and garlic paste and saute until the oil starts separating from the onion.
Add the cashew paste and saute. Keep cooking until the mixture becomes lumpy and oil starts separating then add chilies slit from the centre and kasuri methi to the mixture and keep stirring.
Add water /milk as per your preference ,whisk the gravy to make it smooth, keep stirring so the gravy doesn't stick or burn( you can strain the gravy to get a smoother texture if preferred).
Add butter ,salt ,sugar and stir. Add 1 tsp cardamom powder and fresh cream. Bring it to a final boil and stir then turn off the heat.

In a serving plate arrange the koftas and add the gravy on top of it. Garnish with mint/coriander leaves.



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