Switch your Friday Night Indian food take-out with this easy lightened-up and so doable Malai Kofta.
Most of the time cooking an elaborate Indian meal is something I never look forward to and thankfully we both share lot of similar interests in food so Indian food is rare around here. Even though we have Indian roots but we like to indulge our taste buds into cuisines of all sorts and my work revolving around food most of the time, gives me ample opportunity to play around with all sorts of food items.
But then there are days I just loathe cooking (it’s funny how work becomes boredom somedays, even though it is something I love love doing all the time. Creating recipes, food photographing, writing and working on side projects, it gets out of hands some days and then all I want to do is stay away from kitchen as much as possible.). But then there are days I go all out and create our favorite Indian delicacies.
This recipe is Indian comfort food at it’s finest. I have been making it for sometime now but this time I switched up things a bit. If you have been following, you might remember this version of malai kofta which I posted a while back. ( Remember how weird my photography was back then?! Ha, I sure have come a long way but there is still a ton to learn! Phew) .
This time I lightened up the recipe by using fat free half & half instead of full fat cream and sneaked in some veggies into the fried balls. I know you might wonder if you can bake these instead? To be honest I have not tried baking these but if you guys do, please leave your experience in the comments below. I would love to know how they turn out.
If you have all the ingredients on hand, you should be done with this recipe in an hour otherwise 2 hours at the max. It’s basically 2 steps : Getting the veggie cheese balls ready which involves shaping and frying and secondly, making the gravy. Serve this with your bread of choice (store bought or you can use naan recipe from here. Lot of times, I use whole wheat instead of all purpose in this naan recipe and we love them.
I am looking forward to getting some rest this weekend. What about you all? Any special plans?
- 1 cup boiled and shredded potatoes
- 1 cup shredded paneer (Indian Cheese)
- 1 cup boiled & mashed mixed veggies ( I used ½ cup cauliflower and ½ cup green peas. You can easily use carrots, green beans.)
- Paste from 2-4 green chilies or as per taste
- 1- 1.5 tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- ½ tsp red chili powder
- 1-2 tbsp chopped cilantro
- Salt to taste
- Corn starch for coating
- Vegetable oil for frying (I used canola oil)
- *You can also use mixed variety of nuts if you are into that sort of thing.
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1+1/4 cup red onion, chopped
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- ½-1 tsp red chili powder or as per taste
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½-3/4 cup fat free half & half
- 2 tbsp very finely chopped cashew nuts (I like giving them a quick chop in the food processor)
- 1-2 cups Water
- 1-2 tsp sugar
- Cilantro for garnishing (optional)
- In a bowl, add shredded boiled potatoes, shredded paneer and mashed up veggies.
- *After boiling the veggies, strain and squeeze them in a cheese cloth so that all the excess water drains out. Make sure they are nicely squeezed before you add them to the bowl as water in veggies will make it hard to form the balls.
- Add all the spices starting from green chilies to salt and mix using hands. Form them into tight balls wither round, oblong or any shape you fancy.Take some corn starch in a plate and roll the balls one at a time in corn starch so they get nicely coated. Keep aside.
- Heat oil in deep pot. To check if oil is hot, drop a small piece from the veggie cheese balls. If it sizzles immediately, it means oil is hot enough. Keeping the gas at medium-low, add few balls at a time and fry them until golden brown. Transfer them to a paper towel lined plate. Repeat until you are done with all the balls. Keep them aside.
- In a deep heavy pot, add oil. Once hot, add onions and saute. To onions, add a pinch of salt as it will help the onions to give out moisture which will help them in cooking faster. Once onions are golden brown, add ginger paste, garlic paste. turmeric and stir. Cook for few minutes and add chopped tomatoes. Along with it, add red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder. Stir it all around so the spices get cooked through. Add 1 cup of water and bring it all to a boil. Let it simmer for 7-10 minutes. Turn off the gas and transfer the sauce to a high speed blender. Be VERY CAREFUL as it's really hot. Blend the sauce until smooth.
- To the same pot, add oil and cumin seeds. Once they start to sizzle, add the blended sauce back to the pot. To it add fat free half & half, cashew nuts, water, salt to taste and sugar. Bring it to a boil and taste. Adjust spices as per taste. If you feel flavors are missing, some salt, sugar and half & half will make it right.
- Just before serving add the balls in hot gravy and serve garnished with freshly chopped cilantro.
- Serve with Indian bread and rice.
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I just love how spiced and aromatic this kofta is. Never have I made a kofta from scratch before (but I do enjoy eating it).. so this is a must make recipe for me.
Thalia it’s little time consuming but so worth the efforts!! Let me know if you give it a try.
I love how you lightened this up a bit for us girls watching our waistlines. There are loads of good flavors in this dish and I bet it is pure heaven. My husband would be the envy of all his coworkers if I packed this in his lunch.
Hehe thanks for this awesome comment!! Hope you give this a try.
I love malai kofta Ami..it’s one of my favorite dishes! Yours looks so good..I feel like eating it all with a spoon right now! Pinned.
Hehe thanks for the pin love Manali!!
I must make these ahhhh!! They look sinfully delicious by themselves but then you smother them in spicy gravy au my ultimate comfort lady!
Haha your comment made my day!!! Try them and let me know girl!!
This looks wonderful, so rich and creamy. I love your photography!
Thanks Rosanna!! Hope you try these!
so beautiful and nourishing. I love all the flavors! i bet it smells divine too
Hi .
.i have gone through your recipe . Wiuld like to know what is fatfree half and half .. is it available in india . Thanx
Ruchika, you can replace fat free half n half with simple cream which is very easy to find in India.. Fat free half n half might not be available in India as far as I know.. Happy cooking ☺
Do I need to use Paneer? I don’t eat paneer.
I tried this recipe and totally loved it. My son enjoyed it with garlic naan. Thanks for sharing !!
Hi…I tried your recipe and I must say it was awesome… My husband loved it… I just gave it a little twist by frying the kofta’ s in an appe mould, rest everything same… thanks a lot for this wonderful recipe
Thanks Nazia!! Glad you enjoyed these!!
Perfect recipe. I had never tried making malai kofta before thinking it must be a complicated dish. I was wrong its so easy to prepare after following your recipe. Small changes i made are added raisin in between the kofta and made it round thank you amishi. My guests loved it.
Thank you so much sweety for your lovely comment 🙂
What is half and half
Suman half and half is basically a mix of half milk and half heavy cream but you can just use heavy cream in place 🙂
what is your website
You are on my website!
Hi…
I tried your recipe of malai kofta…
Its yummmm…
My husband loved this…
Thanks for the recipe..
thank you Priya!! Glad you enjoyed this recipe!!
That looks so beautiful and amazingly delicious! Lovely clicks !
What is half & half
Arti it’s just a mix of heavy cream and milk but you can in place use heavy cream only 🙂
Tried this recipe and it’s super delicious! To lighten it up even more, I baked the koftas instead of frying, until golden brown. I will definitely be making this again and again!
Thank you so much Kris for reporting back! Glad you enjoyed this!!
Saw this recipe and got excited, tried it and was highly
Disappointed.
Hi Pooja!! I am sorry that it didn’t worked out for you! So many of my readers have tried this recipe and LOVED it!! I am sorry that it didn’t match the taste you were looking for 🙂
Looks tempting…will sure try this recipe…thnx for sharing…
This recipe is wonderful! I just tried it tonight for dinner. My boyfriend and I love malai kofta and have been searching for a good recipe. I substituted half-and-half for full fat coconut milk and the paneer for extra firm tofu. This makes it vegan friendly. I baked the dumplings for 40 minutes at 400 degrees in the oven to make it healthier and added a dash of curry powder to the sauce at the end to give it a fuller flavor. I am definitely making this recipe again and sometime in the very near future!
Thanks a ton Sabrina!! Love your substitutions and so happy to hear that your bf & you enjoyed this 🙂
Amazing recipe! Easy to follow and turned out delicious,even though I didn’t have a few ingredients :). A bit more time consuming than my average week night dinner but absolutely worth it. Thank you!!
Thanks for trying it out Sophia 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it!
I haven’t tried your version yet, but this is one of my favorite dishes to order in a restaurant. Has anyone considered using an air fryer vs pan frying yet? That may help lighten it up and coconut milk vs half & half? Also, would you suggest cashew butter instead to make the sauce more creamy? Curious. Would love your thoughts!
I must make these ahhhh!! They look sinfully delicious by themselves but then you smother them in spicy gravy au my ultimate comfort lady!