After many years, I made Malai koftas for lunch today. I don’t make koftas often as it needs to be deep fried. Today I had planned to make parathas for lunch. I had limited choice of vegetables, but lot of milk. So I decided to make paneer and that led to this idea of making malai koftas. I had some sweet potatoes too. So, instead of potatoes I used sweet potatoes to make the kofta.

The malai koftas had a melt in mouth texture and the gravy was rich, creamy and absolutely delicious. When my son tasted it, he said it was super yummy and much better than the koftas served in any restaurant 🙂
And did that make my day? You bet….:)

Ingredients

For the Kofta
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Crumbled Paneer – 1 cup
Boiled sweet potato – 1 cup
Grated carrot – 1/2 cup
Finely chopped garlic – 1/2 tsp
Finely chopped ginger – 1/2 tsp
Chopped coriander leaves – 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
Milk powder – 2 tbsps
Corn flour – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

For the gravy
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Chopped onion – 1 cup
Chopped tomatoes – 3 cups
Garlic – 4-5 cloves
Ginger – 1 inch
Cashew nuts – 2 tbsps
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder- 1 tsp
Oil – 2 tsps

Butter – 2 tbsps
Cumin seeds ( jeera) – 1 tsp
Kasoori methi ( dried fenugreek leaves) – 1 tsp
Garam masala – 1/2 tsp
Milk – 3/4th cup
Sugar – 2 tsps

For garnish
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Cream – 2 tbsps
Garam masala – little

Method

To make the kofta
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Mix all the ingredients mentioned for the kofta ( except oil) and gently knead to a smooth dough. Remove all the fibres from the sweet potato as you knead.

Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and roll it into kofta ( round or cylinder shape). Chill the koftas for 10-15 mins.

Deep fry the koftas till it turns golden brown. Remove, drain the excess oil and keep it aside.

To make the gravy
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Heat 2 tsps of oil in a pan.
Add the garlic and ginger. Sauté for few seconds and then add the chopped onions. Sauté till the onion turns golden and then add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cashew nuts and salt to taste. Mix well and continue to sauté till the tomato becomes soft.

Cool and grind this to a smooth purée.

Now add 2 tbsps of butter in a pan. To the hot, melted butter, add the cumin seeds. When it starts to crackle, add the ground purée, Kasoori methi, sugar and garam masala. Mix well. Add the milk and 1/4th cup of water and mix again. Check for the seasonings.
Let the gravy simmer on a low flame for few mins.

To serve the malai koftas
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Arrange the koftas in a serving bowl. Pour the gravy gently over it. Drizzle the cream over it , sprinkle some garam masala and serve the koftas hot with roti / paratha/ pulao 🙂