Malai Kofta Curry Restaurant Style

Creamy Malai Kofta Curry

Today we’re making a creamy malai kofta curry restaurant style. A hot favourite at restaurants and parties, it’s a delicacy that’s just bursting with flavour. While the koftas are deliciously soft, the curry is rich and creamy.

Malai kofta curry is such a tasty dish, but what’s even better is that it’s not difficult to make it at home. That is, if you follow the special tips I have for you.

If you enjoy this recipe, you’ll surely love my corn korma recipe too, which is a straight-forward one requiring no special techniques.

Ingredients

Koftas

1 large potato (240g)

130g paneer

½ tsp crushed ginger

1 green chilli, finely chopped

½ tsp ground pepper

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground cardamom

2 tbsp chopped coriander

2 tsp corn flour

2 tbsp maida (all-purpose flour)

Maida for coating

Oil for deep / shallow frying

Kofta Filling

2 tbsp chopped nuts, raisins

2 tsp chopped coriander

¼ tsp ground cardamom

Curry

2 tbsp oil

2 bay leaves

6 peppercorns

1-inch stick cinnamon

4 green cardamoms

2 med. size onions chopped (1 cup)

3 med. size tomatoes chopped (1½ cup)

Almost ½ cup cashew nuts (soaked)

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 tsp crushed ginger

1 ½ tsp ground cumin

2 tsp coriander powder

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp salt, approx.

1 tbsp oil

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp tomato sauce

¼ cup milk cream

Procedure

1. Mash the boiled and peeled potato.
2. If using store bought paneer, bring it to room temperature and then press the outer surface of the paneer slab all around with paper napkins to absorb some of the water inside and also to dry the slab. Then crumble it and squeeze the crumbled paneer to get rid of some more of its moisture.
3. Both the mashed potato and the crumbled paneer should have as little moisture as possible. If they’re too wet, the koftas will break open while they’re being fried. To dry them up some more, keep both in the fridge uncovered for around 30 to 40 minutes.
4. After that, you could start preparing the koftas. To a large bowl, transfer the mashed potato, crumbled paneer, crushed ginger, chopped green chillis, pepper powder, salt, ground cardamom, chopped coriander, corn flour, and maida. Mix everything together and knead it well for 3 to 4 minutes to form a soft and smooth mix.
5. Now prepare a small quantity of filling to add to the centre of each kofta. Mix the chopped almonds, cashew nuts, and raisins with some chopped coriander and a little ground cardamom.
6. Divide the kofta mix into 10 sections and shape each one into a ball. Using your thumb press down into the top of each ball to form a cup shape. Place a little of the filling inside, draw the edges of the cup shape together, close the mouth, and then roll it between your palms to form a ball with a smooth outer surface.
7. Roll each ball in maida and then dust off the excess flour.
8. Next, you could either deep fry or shallow fry the koftas. Heat the oil in a pan / kadai on medium heat, add a few koftas to it, and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Holding the handles of the kadai, swirl the oil around gently to see that the koftas don’t stick to the bottom of the kadai and then leave them undisturbed for around a minute. Fry them carefully turning them around so that they get slightly browned evenly on all sides. Then remove them to a thali or tray lined with an absorbent kitchen paper towel. Fry all the koftas and then set them aside.
9. Now let’s prepare the curry. Heat the oil in a vessel on medium heat. To it, add the bay leaves, peppercorns, cinnamon stick, and the green cardamom. Sauté the whole spices for a few seconds and then add the chopped onions. Fry these till they soften and just start browning, after which you could add the chopped tomatoes. Sauté everything until the tomatoes soften. Next stir in the cashew nuts that had been soaked in hot water for around half an hour.
10. To a small bowl, add the crushed ginger and garlic, the ground cumin, coriander powder, chilli powder, and turmeric powder. Then make a slurry of these spices by adding ½ a cup of water to them. Add this slurry to the onion-tomato mix. We prepare a slurry like this to ensure the ginger, garlic, and the powdered spices don’t get burnt in the oil and lose their flavour. Next, add the sugar, salt, and 1 cup of water. Give everything a good stir. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cover the vessel. Let the mixture cook for around 5 to 6 minutes.
11. Turn off the heat, cool the mixture to almost room temperature, and then puree it in a mixer grinder.
12. Now heat the butter and oil in the same vessel as before and when the butter has almost melted, turn off the heat.
13. Strain the thick, pureed mix directly into the vessel, adding around 1 cup of water a little at a time to help it get strained faster. Discard the fibrous stuff retained in the strainer.
14. Turn on the heat and stir the mixture. After it boils for a minute, check the consistency and add some more water if it needs to be thinned further. Finally, stir in the tomato sauce, followed by the milk cream. Sample the curry and adjust the taste if necessary. Once it comes to a boil, turn off the heat. The flavourful curry is ready to be served.
15. The koftas can be added to the curry after turning off the heat, or else, you could arrange the koftas in a serving platter and then pour some of the curry over them. (The malai koftas are too delicate to be boiled in the curry.)

Enjoy!