Since Malai Koftas have been on my mind for a while, I decided to take the plunge one day. It took me a long time compared to how long I usually take to make something. Those are not my favourite kind of recipes. But I had to try malai koftas and I did. Will share the complete recipe when I've sorted the pictures out, but for now, here are the aloo paneer koftas that I dunked in the gravy to turn these into malai koftas.
These make for a very yummy and a (relatively) quick snack for a party or just to treat your family on a weekend evening.
Aloo Paneer Koftas
Makes about 15-18 koftas
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
1 cup of paneer, crumbled fine
1 potato, peeled and boiled
1 carrot, peeled and boiled (optional)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
A small piece of ginger, grated
1 teaspoon of red chilli powder
2 of green chillies, sliced into thin discs
A generous pinch of hing
8-10 cashew nuts, broken into small pieces
1 teaspoon of coriander powder
A generous bunch of coriander leaves / cilantro
¼ cup of cornflour for dusting (optional)
Oil for deep frying
Salt to taste
How It's Made:
1. Mash the boiled potato and carrot together until there are no lumps.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients to this mixture (except corn flour and oil).
3. Mix well with fingertips until it's a homogenous, damp mixture. The moisture from the potato and carrot should be enough to bring it together. Don't add any water.
4. Roll into small lime-sized balls.
5. Dust with corn flour. This is an optional step because I didn't find much difference in texture between these and the ones I didn't dust. Also, if you leave them plain, the oil stays clear and doesn't leave a white layer on the koftas.
6. Heat a pan and add enough oil to submerge the koftas half way. You can deep fry the koftas but it's really not necessary. You can also use a paniyaram pan to do the frying. Gently place the koftas in the hot oil.
7. Turn gently when golden brown on one side. Keep the fire medium low to ensure the inside is cooked too.
Drain on to paper towels and serve hot with ketchup or mint chutney. Tastes fabulous on it's own or you can go on to make malai koftas with them (recipe coming soon!)
What's your most favourite quick snack recipe for evening tea?
colour_me
Nags you are awesome ! Your recipes are fantastic - Keep em coming.
colour_me
Nags you are awesome ! Love your recipes 😀
Kelley
When you refer to the potato, do you use something like a big russet potato, or a smaller red potato?
Nagalakshmi V
i used a medium-sized russet, not too big.
Kelley
Thanks!
Archana
Yummy koftas. will re try these on my reluctant family
Anu Nandu
This is just plain sexy. I loved it with all my heart 🙂
Unknown
Very good Receipe. I tried it and my hubby and kid loved it. Thanks 🙂
Preethi
Hi Nags,
I was wondering... have you tried making cheese poppers/balls using Paneer? Shouldn't they ideally come out like this? Crunchy and pretty? Or, are we going to end up with rubbery balls of fried cheese?
Nagalakshmi V
not sure what you mean by cheese poppers. do you mean dipping the whole cheese in some batter and then frying it? I haven't tried that, actually
sasi
Hi Nags,
I have a passion of cooking sometime but never get inspired with the reading the reciepies but I have started implementing after viewing your blog with recipe in terms of pics.
Small doubt ....I tried this and didn't able to make crunchy/crispy as
shown in ur pic.... but it tastes good.
🙂
Nagalakshmi V
that's strange. were they a bit too moist/watery maybe? i have made these aloo paneer koftas a couple of times already and they turned out great each time! 🙂
sasi
Thank you and I will give a another try sometime later this week to succeed. 🙂
BongMom
Looks delish Nags. Without the corn flour will the outer layer texture be same?
Nagalakshmi V
Hey there, I actually dipped only two koftas in the corn flour (which you see frying in the pan along with two non-dipped ones). I couldn't tell the difference after they were done. I think the potatoes are enough to make it crunchy.
JavelinWarrior
I love following you - always something unique I haven't seen before... And these are stunning! I have featured your post in today's Friday Food Fetish roundup. Let me know if you have any objections and thanks for the inspiration...