Malai Kofta

Malai Kofta: A rich creamy tomato curry with koftas. Kofta is a middle-eastern term generally used to denote meatballs (or mashed vegetables rolled into balls). Malai Kofta is a dish from the royal 'Moghlai' cuisine of medieval India (cuisine of the Islamic Mughal royalty). The preparation of this dish is quite intricate and time-consuming.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

For Koftas:

- 1 medium sized potato boiled and mashed

- 1 cup of grated paneer (Paneer is an unaged non-melting curd cheese made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice; You can buy it at any ethnic Indian food store)

- 1 green chilly finely chopped

- 1/4 cup cornflour

- 8 to 10 raisins

- Oil for frying

- Salt

For the Gravy:

- 1 medium onion chopped

- 2 tbsp oil

- 2 tsp of ginger- garlic paste

- 1 green chilly chopped

- 1/2 tsp coriander powder

- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder

- 1/4 cup tomato puree

- 1/4 tsp red chilli powder (If you like spicy you could add 1/2 or 1 tsp)

- 1/4 cup crushed khoa/khoya (It is a milk food, made from dried whole milk or milk thickened by heating in an open iron pan. You can buy it at any Indian food store).

- 1/4 cup fresh cream

- 1/2 tsp garam masala powder

- cilantro to garnish

- Salt

Preparation:

- For the Koftas mix potatoes, paneer, green chillies, cornflour and salt in a bowl.

- Divide them into equal portions. Make round balls (koftas) of each portion and stuff raisin into each of them.

- Heat oil sufficient for frying the koftas in a kadai/wok

- Deep fry these koftas till they are slightly brown. Remove them on a tissue paper to absorb the extra oil.

- For the gravy, boil the onions in 2 cups of water. Drain the excess water, cool and grind them into a smooth paste.

- Heat oil in kadai/wok. Add the boiled onion paste and cook for about 5 mins.

- Add ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. Let cook for a minute.

- Add tomato puree, red chilli powder and cook on medium heat for 10 t0 15 mins or till the oil starts to separate from the masala.

- Mix khoa to 2 cups of water and add it to the gravy.

- Bring it to a boil and simmer for 10 mins on low heat, stirring occasionally.

- Now add fresh cream and the garam masala powder. Mix it with the gravy properly. Let cook for about 5 minutes.

- Place warm koftas in a serving dish and pour hot gravy on top, garnish it with cilantro and serve.

- Malai Kofta is now ready to serve.