Mughlai Paneer Kofta Curry
Prep Time: 25 mins
Cooking Time: 40-50 mins
Ingredients:
For the Gravy:
For Onion Paste:
3 large Onions, peeled and quartered
2-3 Green Chillies (adjust acc to taste)
1½ inch Cinnamon
4-5 Green Cardamoms
4 Cloves
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
1 heaped tbsp Dhania/Coriander Seeds
Other Ingredients:
¼ cup each of Almonds and Cashew Nuts, soaked in ½ cup of warm water for 15 mins
1 - 1¼ cup Fresh Cream (I used Double Cream)
1½ tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
¼ tsp Haldi/Turmeric Powder
½ tsp Kitchen King Masala/Garam Masala (Optional but recommended)
½ tbsp Kasuri Methi/Dried Fenugreek Powder, crushed (Optional but recommended)
1 tsp Sugar
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
For Paneer Kofta/Dumplings (makes around 20-24 medium lime sized dumplings)
3 cups grated/crumbled Paneer (Around 275-300 grams)
1 cup boiled and mashed Potato (Optional)
¼ cup Corn Flour
½ cup Mixed Dried Nuts and Fruits (I have used chopped cashews, almonds, pistachio and sultana)
2-3 Green Chillies, finely chopped (Adjust acc to taste)
1 inch Ginger, peeled and finely chopped/grated
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
Spices Used:
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder (Adjust acc to taste)
¼ tsp Haldi/Turmeric Powder
¾ tsp Garam Masala (Adjust acc to taste)
¼ tsp Kitchen King Masala (Optional)
1 tsp Dhania/Coriander Powder (Optional)
Method:
Prepare the gravy:
Grind onions, green chillies, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cumin seeds and coriander seeds to smooth paste without adding any water. Keep it aside till needed.
Similarly grind the soaked almonds and cashew nuts to smooth paste by using the water in which they were soaked. Keep it aside till needed.
Heat oil in a pan and add ground onion paste, sugar and ginger garlic paste. Sauté it on medium flame for 5-7 minutes or till the oil starts to separate on the edge and the paste turns golden brown. It is important that the paste is well fried or the gravy will taste bitter, the sugar helps in caramelising the onions.
Mix in turmeric powder, kitchen king masala/garam masala and kasuri methi and cook them for a minute.
Add ground almond and cashew nut paste and mix them well. Add about 1 ½ - 2 cups of water, depending on how thick you want the gravy, and salt to taste. Reduce the flame to low and let it cook for 7-10 minutes.
Once the gravy starts to thicken and comes to a gentle boil, add fresh cream and mix them well. Cook for another 2 minutes and then turn off the gas flame. The delicious and creamy almond and cashew nut gravy is ready for the Mughlai Paneer Kofta.
Prepare the Koftas:
In a large bowl take crumbled/grated paneer and using hands start to knead it. Keep kneading it till all the crumbled paneer starts to form soft dough.
Mix in boiled potato, finely chopped green chillies, corn flour, grated ginger, turmeric powder, garam masala, kitchen king masala and salt to taste. Here you can also add finely chopped dried nuts or you can use them as a stuffing. I just added them with the paneer mix and as I didn’t see any point in spending few extra time by stuffing them.
The consistency of this kofta mix is almost that of roti dough and you should be able to make small balls. Once all the ingredients and mixed thoroughly, make small lime sized balls .
Heat oil in a deep frying pan for deep prying the koftas and reduce the heat to medium to low. Deep fry koftas in batches of 3-4 balls at time. If the koftas start to break, add 1-2 tbsp of corn flour to the mix, combine them well and make small balls of koftas once again.
Fry the koftas, turning them once in a while, till they turn crisp and golden brown in colour.
To Assemble and Serve:
Heat the gravy for few minutes and serve piping hot.
Place the koftas in gravy and garnish it finely chopped coriander leaves.
There are people who love baking their own bread , I love making my own sweets and goodies. Gulab Jamuns - the fried milk solids / khoya dumplings soaked in cardamon and saffron flavoured sugar syrup is easy to make / replicate at home. The chief ingridient in it "Khoya" is mostly adulterated when brought off the shelf. So either you make your own - a very tedious and time consuming exercise or try a small trick. I tried my hand with "Milk powder" and results I got were almost as good as the as ones with "actual khoya".
