Malai Kofta Recipe (Restaurant Style Paneer Kofta Curry)
Crisp paneer-potato koftas in a strained onion-tomato-cashew cream gravy. Restaurant-style malai kofta you assemble at the table so the dumplings hold.
Equipment
- Heavy-bottomed pan or kadhai
- Blender
- Fine-mesh strainer
- Wide skillet or air fryer
Ingredients
For the koftas
- 200 g paneer patted dry and grated, about 1 1/2 cups
- 100 g boiled russet potato cooled and grated, about 1/2 cup
- 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch plus 1 teaspoon only if the dough sticks
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1-2 green chilies deseeded and finely chopped, or 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon cashews finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon raisins finely chopped
- neutral oil for shallow-frying, about 1/2 inch in the skillet, or oil spray for the air fryer
For the gravy
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ghee or oil
- 2-3 green cardamom pods
- 1 small bay leaf
- 1/2 inch cinnamon stick
- 2 cloves
- 3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 1/2 cups sliced onion about 170 g, 1 large
- 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
- 2 1/4 cups chopped Roma tomatoes about 350 g
- 18 raw cashews 36 g
- 3/4 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
- 3/4 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 3/4-1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 cup water for blending, plus 1/2 cup to simmer
To finish
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kasuri methi crushed
- 1 teaspoon sugar or 1 tablespoon jaggery
- 1/4 cup heavy cream plus 1 tablespoon to swirl
- fresh cilantro chopped
Instructions
Make the gravy base
- Heat the ghee in a pan on medium. Add cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, and cumin. When the cumin sizzles, add the sliced onion and a pinch of salt. Cook 7 to 8 minutes, stirring, until light gold.
- Add ginger-garlic paste. Cook 1 to 2 minutes until the raw smell fades.
- Add tomatoes, cashews, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Cook 8 minutes, covered if needed, until the tomatoes are mushy.
- Stir in Kashmiri chili, coriander, and garam masala. Cook 3 minutes on medium-high until the masala smells toasted, not dusty. Discard the bay leaf. Cool 10 minutes.
- Blend with 1 cup cold water until very smooth.
Finish the gravy
- Melt the butter in a clean pan on low. Set a strainer over the pan and pour in the puree, pressing with a spoon. This is what makes the gravy look restaurant-smooth.
- Add 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, then simmer 8 to 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until it coats a spoon.
- Taste for salt and garam masala. Crush in the kasuri methi. Stir in the sugar.
- Add 1/4 cup cream. Cover and keep warm. Do not add the koftas yet.
Make the koftas
- Boil the potato until just fork-tender. Cool completely. Peel and grate. If the gratings look wet, squeeze them in a towel.
- Pat the paneer dry. Grate it into the same bowl. Add ginger, green chili, garam masala, salt, cilantro, cashews, and raisins.
- Add 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch. Mix 2 to 3 minutes until you have a smooth dough that does not stick. Add 1 teaspoon more cornstarch only if needed.
- Divide into 12 to 14 balls, about 25 g each. Roll until the surface looks crack-free. Rest 10 minutes. Keep a pea-sized scrap to test the oil.
Fry or air-fry
- Shallow-fry: Heat about 1/2 inch oil in a wide skillet on medium. Drop the scrap in. It should sizzle and rise without browning in seconds. Slide in a test kofta. If it holds, fry the rest in one layer, 2 to 3 minutes without moving them, then turn until gold. Drain on a rack.
- Air-fryer: Heat to 360°F (180°C). Spray the koftas. Cook 12 to 15 minutes, shaking once, until gold. They will be a little drier than fried. They still work in the gravy.
- Let the koftas sit 3 to 4 minutes so the crust firms.
Assemble
- Pour the warm gravy into a serving bowl. Nestle in the koftas. Spoon gravy over the tops. Swirl the last tablespoon of cream and add cilantro.
- Serve at once. If you need to wait, keep gravy and koftas apart, then combine at the table.
Notes
Cool the potato completely before you grate it. Warm potato makes a wet dough.
Test one scrap, then one kofta, before you fry the whole batch.
Strain the gravy. Skipping the strainer leaves tomato skin and onion threads in the cream.
Add koftas only when you are ready to eat. A long simmer makes even a good batch swell and split.
Air-fried koftas are drier. Spoon extra gravy over them.
Nut-free: skip cashews in the gravy and use 1/2 cup cream total. Skip the chopped nuts in the kofta, keep the raisins if you want.
Kid-mild: skip green chili, use black pepper, and stay with Kashmiri chili in the gravy.
Jain / no onion, no garlic: do not rewrite this gravy. Use the white cashew gravy from Jain methi malai paneer and these koftas.
Make-ahead: gravy keeps 2 days in the fridge. Shaped raw koftas keep 1 day chilled, or freeze up to 2 weeks with parchment between layers. Fry from fridge-cold, or thaw frozen ones on the counter first.
Leftover assembled curry keeps 1 day. The koftas soften. I do not freeze the combined dish.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!