Malai Kofta Curry

This is one of my husband's favourite dishes and I have been wanting to make this from the time I got married. But, just kept pushing it away as I always thought it was quite a lengthy process and also very time consuming. But, my neighbour proved this theory of mine to be wrong :) She told me a very simple way of making these koftas and I found it so easy that I made them last weekend for my husband and he was immensely surprised. He simply loved it. I also made some naan to go with the koftas. Here goes the recipe...

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Makes : 16 koftas

Ingredients :

for the koftas :

1 cup potatoes boiled and mashed

1 cup of grated paneer (cottage cheese)

2 tbsp freshly chopped cilantro

1 green chilli chopped

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp salt or as per taste

2 tbsp flour

4 tbsp water

for the kofta gravy:

11/2 tbsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp ginger shredded

a pinch of asafoetida or hing

1/2 tsp salt or as per taste

1/4 tsp garam masala powder

1 tbsp cashew nut powder

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp all purpose flour

1/4 cup fresh cream

2 tbsp freshly chopped cilantro

2 big tomatoes finely chopped

1 green chilli chopped

2 tbsp tomato puree

Method :

for making the koftas :

• Combine water and flour to form a smooth paste without lumps and keep aside
• Combine all the ingredients for the koftas and make about 16 small balls. Remember when they go in the gravy they almost double in size.
• Heat oil in a pan for deep frying and dip these kofta balls one at a time in the flour batter and insert them in the hot oil. Do not keep stirring them often as they would break. Fry them one side completely then turn them to fry on the other side.
• Take them out from the oil, drain on a kitchen towel and keep aside.

for making the kofta curry :

• Combine flour and cream to form a smooth paste and keep aside
• Blend the tomatoes with the green chillies to form a puree
• Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds to it. When they crackle, add the tomato and green chilli paste and the tomato puree and fry nicely for about 5 minutes
• Then add the shredded ginger, coriander powder, asafoetida, turmeric powder, salt, cashew nut powder and mix well and fry again for about 5 minutes.
• Add about 1 cup of water to the above mixture and allow it to cook for a while
• Then add the cream and flour mixture to the above gravy, garam masala powder, sugar and allow it to come to a slow boil.
• Finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
• Just when you are ready to eat or serve the malai koftas, add the koftas to the gravy and serve immediately. Else they will get dissolved in the gravy.
• Serve hot with some home-made naan.