I’ve been wanting to try some of my own and finally got around to it couple of months back. It’s not a short and easy recipe, let me be honest, but it’s all worth it at the end, trust me.
The first step is to make the aloo paneer koftas so go on ahead and do that, I’ll wait.
Ready?
Ok now to the gravy to complete the Malai Kofta Recipe.
Malai Kofta Recipe
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
1 batch of aloo paneer koftas
1 large onion, pureed
1 tomato, pureed
12 cashew nuts, soaked in warm water for 30 mins and ground to a paste
1 tsp of red chilli powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
1 tbsp of kasuri methi / dried fenugreek leaves
1 tbsp of tomato sauce (optional)
2 tbsp of cream
Salt to taste
2 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp of jeera / cumin, powdered
1/2 cup of milk
How to Make Malai Kofta Recipe:
1. Heat oil and add the cumin powder. Fry for 5 seconds. Add the tomato and onion puree. Saute for 2-3 mins until the raw smell disappears.
2. Add the chilli powder, coriander powder, salt, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, and hing.
3. Fry for another 2 mins. Now add the kasuri methi and the tomato sauce (if using). Top it off with the ground cashew pate. Mix well and let it cook for 5 mins on low flame.
4. Add the milk. Bring to boil and simmer for a minute.
5. Finally add the cream and mix well. Test for salt.
6. Gently drop in the koftas and cover with the sauce. Turn off fire and let it sit for some time for the gravy to soak through.
Serve with warm jeera rice or rotis, with a garnish of grated paneer or fresh coriander leaves. I
Notes:
– If you prefer a white base for your malai kofta, skip the tomato and tomato sauce and add more cream and cashew paste.
– Some prefer to omit the onion, and that’s fine too but I feel like it gives the gravy a nice base. I also wanted to avoid using too much cream.
I had this delicious meal at a restaurant yesterday and today I am so happy to find the recipe here! Thanks for the clear directions and the great pictures. I am going to try this at home. The only thing that I can tell that was differen t yesterday is that there were cardamom seeds in my dish. Have you had it made this way? Thanks.
hey naomi, as you can imagine, there are a few different ways you can make malai kofta. you can definitely add a couple of pods of crushed cardamom while roasting the onions. that will add more flavour of the spice to the malai kofta
Hi Nags,
Tried this recipe today and it was amazing!This recipe is simply great and tasted divine… Everyone loved it…One problem was while frying the koftas they started to disintegrate in the oil.Actually the thing is that i can never follow a recipe to the T, I use my own measurements (Except while baking of course)and so i used more amount of paneer than the boiled potatoes and they disintegrated.Rectified it by adding more potatoes..so a general tip is to use lesser quantity of paneer than potatoes!that the
Sri.
Thanks for leaving the note Srikala 🙂
Hi Nags, great recipe.. I absolutely love malai kofta. I know the gravy can be made in advance and refrigerated, but can the kofte be made in advance too (made and fried a day ahead of a big party) so that when it is time to serve, you just heat up the gravy, then drop the koftas(they can be warmed up in an oven, may be to freshen them up.)Do you think this will work?
absolutely! that should work just fine 🙂
Just had the malai koftas, was delicious. Thanks so much for this great recipe!
Hi, Malai Kofta is my husband's favorite meal, but we've moved to an area with no Indian food, so I'm looking forward to giving this recipe a try. I like your version (everyone seems to have their own). I've looked around and can't seem to find asafoetida, and some people have suggested that the asafoetida you can buy online isn't gluten free (which we need to be). Can you suggested a reasonable substitution?
Thanks!
there really isn't a good substitute for hing / asafoetida but for this recipe, you can omit it.
Hi, This recipe is really good and tasty. tried it and taste was really good.
thanks Nagalakshmi
🙂
looks really nice and yummy
Hey, Nice recipe.
Try adding 1 tsp of powdered poppy seeds. It gives a distinct heady flavor 🙂
that's definitely a great tip to make malai kofta taste better 🙂
Your reipes are really great!!!!