Malai Kofta: Temptress, Seductress and Highly Addictive!

Malai Kofta

“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”.

Do you know the origin of this theory? It is said that the American statesman John Adams wrote in a letter some where in early 19th century, “The shortest road to men's hearts is down their throats” and that's how this theory or statement was originated. So my question is how many of you believe in this theory? Does this statement hold true in your life?

When I think of 19th century I get these black and white images of that era flashing in front of my eyes where many men looked for good wife who would be a good mother to his children and take care of his family affairs. The fact that she could cook well was a good indication to her role of being a nurturer. Unlike our time where we have an option of marrying a person whom we know and eventually fall in love with them, it may have been the best way to please his stomach and work your way up in winning his heart in that period of time! Steaming pot of delicious food may make someone feel cared for by triggering their childhood memories of food served by their loving mother. I wonder if this feeling of satisfaction after been served a good food is mistaken for love!

Cooking is not just chopping, grinding or mashing and throwing everything into a pot and stirring. Any good cook will be able to tell you how much work is involved when it comes to cooking food for someone you care. The person who cooks for you at home knows what food you like, how you like it and when you like to have it. When I cook for someone I make sure that they will remember the food I cooked for long time, a very long time indeed! I choose the best of ingredients with care and use them in such a way that they leave lasting impression. Even everyday simple food served to my man is cooked with utmost care and love. There are no food games in my kitchen as the food should not only taste good it should also be good for you. Well, don’t we all agree that the food cooked with care and love not only will taste good, it will also make them feel cared for and make them feel at home?

We can also argue that food alone is not enough in making the relationship work between two individuals who think differently and have different opinions. There are few restaurants that serve the best food I have ever tasted. Does that mean I will fall in love with chefs just because he/she cooked one of the best meals I have had? I know for sure that the food is prepared with utmost care and to a very high standard. After all I am paying very high price for that plate of meal. In an end it is my man who cooks simple everyday Rasam and Dal whom I love. He may not be the best cook around but he has many qualities that made me fall in ultimate love trap :) It’s definitely not our cooking skills that made us love each other. Any relationship to go strong needs many other qualities in each other and not just our cooking skill. But yeah, we can’t rule out the fact that ability to cook good food will definitely help in nurturing the relationship. Remember, it’s just one of the things that can take you close to man’s heart! Not the ultimate one…

Malai Kofta

This is a good topic for discussion/debate and I have participated in many such discussions. Sometimes I agree with this theory and there are times when I have gone against it. We will continue to argue on this topic as long as there are people who love to cook and eat good food. So I can’t just come to a conclusion as whether I agree with it or not. But it would be great to hear from you as what do you think of it? So let’s hear from you guys…

While we are on this topic, let me share one of the ultimate food seductions. We have Malai Kofta in our menu today. Spicy dumpling of Indian Cottage cheese that is deep fried and served in delicious, creamy and spicy gravy of fresh cream and onion-tomato paste is nothing short of sinful indulgence. Try cooking it once and see your taste buds falling head over heels in love with this tempting Malai Kofta. Yes, Malai Kofta is a temptress, a seductress and highly addictive! ;) I am sending this to Lavi who is guest hosting this month's RCI-Lucknow, a wonderful event started by dear Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine.

Koftas, Before & After Deep Frying

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Malai Kofta (Deep fried spiced Indian Cottage Cheese dumplings in creamy Onion & Tomato gravy)
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 45-60 mins
Serves: 6-8
Recipe Level: Intermediate to Difficult
Spice Level: Medium
Serving Suggestion: With any Indian flat bread or flavoured/steam cooked rice

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Ingredients:
For Kofta:
1½ cups Grated Paneer
2 large Potatoes, cooked, peeled and well mashed
1 medium Onion, very finely chopped
2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, very finely chopped
2-3 Green Chillies, very finely chopped (Optional, adjust acc to taste)
1½-2 tbsp Gulab Jamun Mix/Milk Powder (Optional but recommend)
¼ cup Bread Crumbs
2-3 tbsp Corn Flour (Acts as a binding agent while deep frying)
1 tsp Garam Masala
½ tsp Amchur/Dry Mango Powder (Optional, for little tangy flavour)
6-8 Cashew Nuts, cut into small pieces (Optional but recommend)
1-2 tbsp Raisins (Optional but recommend)
Salt to taste
Oil for Deep Frying

For Gravy:
For Onion Paste:
2 large Onions, peeled and quartered
1 inch Ginger, peeled
3-4 cloves Garlic
1 inch Cinnamon Stick
3 cloves
3 Green Cardamoms

Other Ingredients for Gravy:
4-5 large Tomatoes, pureed
1 tbsp Cashew/Almond Paste
¼-1/2 cup Fresh Cream (I used low fat single cream)
1-2 tsp Garam Masala (Adjust acc to taste)
1 tsp Kitchen King Masala (Optional)
½ tsp Turmeric
½-1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder (Optional)
1 tbsp Kasuri Methi/Sun dried Fenugreek Leaves
½ tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
A pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
Salt to taste

Malai Kofta

Method:

For Gravy:
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and hing. Add onion paste that you had prepared just when cumin starts to sizzle and turn golden red. Stir it continuously for 5-7 minutes till the paste turn golden brown and the raw smell of onion disappears. This is the very important step as you don’t want to rush and end up having bitter tasting gravy. So be patient!
Once the onion paste is cooked thoroughly add kasuri methi and sugar. Saute for a minute or two. Next add tomato puree and stir well. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
Next add garam masala, kitchen king masala, turmeric powder, Kashmiri chilli powder and salt to taste and mix well. Bring this whole gravy to gentle boil, about 5 minutes.
Mix in cashew/almond paste, fresh cream and ½-1 cup of water (depending how thick you prefer the gravy) and cook for another 5-7 minutes on low flame.
Adjust the seasoning and add little more water if the gravy is too thick and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Switch off the flame and mix in finely chopped coriander leaves.

For Koftas:
First, mix paneer with mashed potatoes, onions, coriander leaves and chillies. Make sure that the paneer and potatoes as lump free as possible. Then add gulab jamun mix/milk powder, salt to taste, garam masala, amchur powder, broken cashews, raisins, bread crumbs and corn flour to the vegetable-paneer mix and mix them well. Use hands when mixing all these ingredients and make sure that all the ingredients are mixed properly. The consistency whole mixture should be as that of chapatti dough and you should be able to make lemon sized balls without breaking them.
Next heat oil for deep frying and reduce the heat to medium to low flame. Make small lemon/golf sized balls and deep fry them in batches of 3-4 balls at time. If the koftas start to break, add 1-2 tbsp of corn flour to the mixture, mix them well and make small lemon sized balls. Fry them till they turn golden brown and crisp and place them in a bowl lined with kitchen towel to absorb excess oil.
Alternatively you can bake them in an oven at 175 deg centigrade for about 20-30 minutes or fry them in Appam Pan with little oil till they turn golden brown.

To Assemble and Serve:
Heat the gravy for few minutes and then transfer it to serving dish. Arrange the koftas in gravy and top it with finely chopped coriander levaes. Malai Kofta tastes best when served with any Indian flat bread (I prefer Naan) or flavoured rice like Saffron rice or Jeera Rice with slices of Onion and lemon wedges.

Malai Kofta

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Notes:

When you deep fry the koftas, first make sure that the oil is hot enough before you place them for deep frying.
Place one kofta at a time in a pan when deep frying. If the Kofta starts to break or crumble add about 1-2 tbsp of corn flour and mix well. Corn flour acts as the binding agent and will prevent the koftas from breaking when deep frying.
Always fry the koftas in low-medium flame so that they are cooked well and get lovely golden brown colour.

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Paneer Koftas in Creamy Saffron Gravy

Paneer Koftas in Creamy Saffron Gravy

"When the trees their summer splendour
Change to raiment red and gold,
When the summer moon turns mellow,
And the nights are getting cold;
When the squirrels hide their acorns,
And the woodchucks disappear;
Then we know that it is autumn,
Loveliest season of the year."
- Charlotte L. Riser

It’s fall now as I write this. While walking back to home I noticed the change around me. There is nip in the air, colourful leaves are floating around, the dusk is rapidly approaching on the once bright and blue sky, birds are chirping the last of summer’s song… Summer has come to an end… A wave of nostalgia hit me as I carefully folded my summer dresses and strappy sandals and removed my tall boots and long coat from cupboard. I am going to miss bright sunny spells on my face, lazy weekend afternoon’s BBQ with friends, wearing flowing summer dresses, biting greedily the big crescent of watermelon, licking the ice cream melting down my arm… But the changing colours of leaves thrills me thinking of celebrating Diwali and Christmas with friends and family, smell of apple and pumpkin pie baking in oven, sipping a hot bowl of soup, curling with loved one sitting close to fireplace… Autumn is the season of transition, a season where change is brought before all our senses. How beautifully the leaves grow old!!! Its pleasure to watch fruit trees lavishing their hues on fruits when other trees lavish upon their trees makes me merry. I feel like a Queen when I tread upon carpets of gold and crimson, of brown and bronze leaves, woven by the winds and rains while we slept… I welcome autumn the way I feel, with Paneer Kofta in Creamy Saffron Sauce. Royal and bursting with autumn colour… A dish fit for royalties…

The word kofta is derived from Persian kūfta. In Persian, کوفتن (Kuftan) means "to beat" or "to grind" or meatball. (Source: Wiki) In vegetarian versions of koftas different vegetables like Potato, Cabbage, Beetroots, Spinach, Paneer etc are minced and mixed with different spices. These spicy vegetable balls are then deep fried or grilled or baked and then served with rich creamy, spicy and aromatic gravy.

Unlike vegetables koftas, panner koftas have creamy texture. Grated paneer is added with vegetables of our choice and spices and then deep fried. When deep fried or baked, they are golden and crisp and have rich melt-in-mouth taste. These Koftas are then served with creamy gravy of onion and tomatoes and a pinch of saffron to give it a rich look and flavor. I used fresh homemade Paneer to make this koftes and don’t hesitate to use store bought Paneer if you don’t have homemade ones in hand. This is my contribution to lovely Sunita's Think Spice: Think Saffron event. I am also sending these koftas to Margot of Coffee & Vanilla who is hosting Vegetarian Awareness Month.

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Paneer Koftas in Creamy Saffron Gravy
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cooking Time: 20-30 mins
Serves: 4-5 People

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Ingredients:

For Koftas:
2 cups Paneer, crumbled or grated
2 medium Potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
½ cup Green Peas
1 small Carrot, grated or very finely chopped
5-6 French Beans, finely chopped
1 tsp Garam Masala
½ tsp Kitchen King Masala
3-4 tbsp Corn Flour
2 tbsp Cashew, chopped (Optional)
Oil for deep frying
Salt to taste

Koftas before deep frying

For Gravy:

2 medium Onions, finely chopped
4 large Tomatoes/1 can Tomatoes
8-10 Cashews
2 flakes Garlic, finely chopped
1 inch Ginger, crushed and finely chopped
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Kitchen King Masala
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Powder, roasted and powdered
½ tsp Coriander Powder, roasted and powdered
½ tsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tbsp Kasuri Methi
¼ cup Fresh Cream
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
1 inch Cinnamon Stick
2 Green Cardamon
2 Cloves
1 Bay Leaf
A big pinch of Saffron, soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk
1 tbsp Oil/Ghee
2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste

Koftas after deep frying

Method:
For Gravy:
Make a plus mark on tomatoes and blanch them in boiling water for about 3 minutes and peel their skin.
Grind these tomatoes with cashews, jeera powder, coriander powder, garam masala, kitchen king masala, chilli powder and turmeric powder to smooth paste without adding any water.
Heat oil in a pan and add cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom and bay leaf and sauté it for a minutes on medium flame till you get nice aroma.
Add jeera and when it starts to sizzle add finely chopped onion, kasuri methi, garlic and ginger. Sauté them till onion turns golden brown.
To this add tomato paste, ½ cup of water and salt to taste and cook for 5-7 minutes.
Now mix saffron soaked in warm milk and fresh cream and cook for further 10-15 minutes over a low flame.
Switch off the flame and mix in finely chopped coriander leaves and keep it aside.

Paneer Koftas in Creamy Saffron Gravy

For Koftas:
Take finely chopped carrot, beans and green peas in a microwave safe bowl and cook for 3 minutes or steam cook them for 5 minutes.
Add them with finely mashed potatoes and grated paneer.
Add chopped cashews, garam masala, kitchen king masala, salt to taste and corn flour and mix them well using your hands. The consistency should be as that of chapatti dough to prevent it from breaking while deep frying.
Make small lemon sized balls and deep fry them in batches in hot oil at slow-medium flame till they turn golden brown and crisp from outside. Alternatively you can also bake them in oven at 175 degrees for about 20-30 minutes till they turn golden brown.Transfer the fried koftas on paper towel.
Just before serving arrange the koftas in gravy garnished with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Paneer Koftas in Creamy Saffron Gravy

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Tips:
When you deep fry the koftas, first make sure that the oil is hot enough before you place them for deep frying.
Place one kofta at a time in a pan when deep frying. If the Kofta starts to break or crumble add about 1-2 tbsp of cornflour and mix well as corn flour helps the paneer and vegetables to bind well and they will not break when you deep fry them.
Always fry the koftas in low-medium flame so that they are cooked well and get lovely golden brown colour.

Other Kofta Recipes from Monsoon Spice:

• Palak Kofta
• Aloo Kofta

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Palak Kofta Curry

Every weekend is a big cooking bash for us. By the time we drag ourselves from bed and have our brunch it will be past one in the noon. So we start cooking dinner in leisure and I love every moment of it. Our usual Saturday dinner is quite special and exotic Indian food and this weekend was no exception. And what else can be exotic than Koftas!!! I didn’t want to make the regular Aloo Koftas in basic onion and tomato base curry and opted Palak/Spinach as the base curry. As kofta is prepared by deep frying, I wanted to make it packed with whole lot of nutrition and nothing can beat spinach in that case. This time I went for simple, straight forward recipe which I am sharing with you all.

Palak Kofta Curry

Ingredients:
3 bunches Palak/Spinach, wahed and finely chopped
1 cup Milk
3 Onions, finely chopped
4-5 Potatoes
4 slices of Bread
1/4 cup Green Peas
1 inch Cinnamon
2-3 Green Cardamom
3-4 Cloves
2-3 Green Chillies
1 inch Ginger, minced
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Turmaric Powder
1/2 tbsp Amchur/Dry Mango Powder
1 tbsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Kitchen King Masala
1 tbsp Cashew nuts, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp Raisins
2 tbsp Butter/Oil/Ghee
2-3 tbsp of Gram Flour
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Green Green... Palak Kofta Curry

Method:
For Koftas:
Pressure cook potatoes,peel and mash thourougly.
Soak bread in water, squeeze and add to the potatoes.
Mix with finely cut onion, chillies, cooked green peas, coriander leaves, garam masala, salt, amchur powder, cashwes, raisins and small amount of finely chopped palak.
Mix well and prepare small balls.
Dip them in gram flour paste and deep fry in hot oil and keep aside.

Palak Kofta Curry

For the Gravy:
Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and fry the palak with a little sugar added to it.
Sprinkle little water if necessary.
Remove from flame after few minutes when it becomes soft.
Cool it and grind to a smooth paste.
Heat butter in a pan and add cinnamon, cloves and cradamom.
After 1 minutes add onions and fry till the turn transparent.
To this add ginger, ground palak with milk, salt, chilli powder, amchur, turmaric, kitchen king masala and garam masala.
Mix well and cook it till the gravy thickens in a medium flame.
Add Koftas just before removing from fire or while serving.
Serve hot with roties/chapaties/rice.

Golden Sun Rising from Green Mountain... Palak Kofta Curry

Final Verdict:
It looked good and tasted amazing. The golden brown Koftas in rich green curry reminded me of sun rising from Green Mountain. (Am i sounding too melodramic?;) The blandness (???) of spinach complimented the rich taste of potatoes. I made it little mild than usual as I didn’t wanted the spicy taste to dominate. One more thing i noticed was because the kofta’s were coated with thin paste of gram flour before deep frying, the amount of oil absorbed by kofta’s were comparatively less. So all together it tasted heavenly.

Stuffing of Palak Kofta Curry served with Jeera Rice

Tip:
Add sugar while frying the palak so that the green colour of palak is preserved.

Palak Kofta Curry

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Aloo Kofta

Last week we had invited one of our family friends for our Sunday Diwali Lunch. I wanted to cook something different than usual currys and subjis. After long brainstorming session with my better half and rejecting almost every suggestion from him at last I settled for aloo kofta.
Kofta’s has always maintained a special place in Indian cuisine, when it's good, nothing beats it, but even when it's bad, it's better than most of the other options.
Here is a very simple recipe, agian from my mom's kitchen. Well...Did I say simple recipe? Yup...its indeed. Try it and you will know how simple it is to make kofta's at home.

Rich Aloo Koftas

Ingredients:

For Koftas:
2 Potatoes
1 Carrot, finely chopped or grated
1/4 cup Green Peas
2 Green chillies, finely chopped
2 tbsp Gram flour
1 tbsp Garam Masala
2 tbsp Raisin
2 tbsp crushed Cashwew nuts
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Plain flour/Maida
Oil for deep frying

For Gravy:
1 Onion, Chopped
2 Tomatoes, Chopped
1 tbsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tbsp Kitchen King Masala(optional)
1/2 cup Cream
1 tbsp Butter
Salt to taste
Grind together:
1 Onion
2 Cloves
1/2 inch Cinnamon
2 Cardamom
1 inch Ginger
3 Garlic pods

Kofta stuffing

Method:
For Kofta:
Boil potatoes, peel and mash it. Add finely cut carrots and steam cooked green peas to it.
Mix it together with salt, chillies, gram flour, garam masala, cashwes and raisins.
Make into lime sized balls and coat them with think flour paste mixed with water.
Deep fry until they turn golden brown in medium flame and keep aside.

For Gravy:
Heat butter in a pan, fry onions until crisp.
To this add ground masala, garam masala, kitchen king masala, chilli powder and fry in medium flame till oil separates from it.
Add chopped tomatoes, cream, salt and enough water and allow the gravy to boil till it becomes tthick.
Gently slip koftas and boil for a minute.
Serve Koftas with rice or roties.

Mmm...Kofta...

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