Easy Malai Kofta Recipe with Video

Malai Kofta is a yummy dish of deep-fried balls of paneer & potato in a rich and creamy mild gravy. Onions, tomatoes & cashews together create a melt in the mouth buttery texture. The dish is fit for royals and is perfect to celebrate festivals & special occassions.

I have included the Deep fried as well as Air Fryer Malai Kofta Version for the recipe.

INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO IS INCLUDED IN THE POST.

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Easy Malai Kofta Curry Recipe

Whenever I go to Indian restaurants, Malai Kofta Curry is my most fav curry to order from the menu. The delightful melt in the mouth rich and creamy KOFTA CURRY is very comforting. Once you bite into it, it leaves you craving for more. Therefore it is totally addictive and very desirable.

Since this Vegetarian Kofta Curry is labor intensive, I cook it at home on special occassions. As this dish is fit to serve the royals, it is perfect to celebrate the festivals. Anyhow Malai Kofta is worth the try to make at home.

What is Malai Kofta?

Malai means Cream and Kofta is Deep fried balls of various ingredients. But in this case, paneer and potato are the main ingredients of the kofta.

Although Kofta is not from Indian Cuisine, but it is beautifully adapted into the cuisine. It belongs to the family of meatballs or meatlloaf dishes from Balkan, Middle Eastern, Southern Caucassian, South Asian and Central Asian cuisines.

There are many national and regional variations. There are also vegetable and uncooked versions. Shapes vary and include balls, patties, and cylinders. Sizes typically vary from that of a golf ball to that of an orange. Although golf ball size is the most common size along with round or cylindrical shape.

The recipe is labor intensive but totally worth making it at home.

SOME OTHER VEGETARIAN INDIAN CURRY RECIPES – 

Chana Masala (made with Chickpeas), Rajma Masala (made with Red Kidney Beans), Lobiya Masala (made with Black eye peas), Sabut Masoor (made with whole brown lentils), Lal Masoor (made with split red lentils), Pumpkin dal (made with pumpkin and chana dal), Dal Makhani & Punjabi dhaba dal (made with mix of whole black beluga lentils, red kidney beans) are some of the examples of the dals made in Indian homes.

What are the ingredients of Malai Kofta Curry?

Since it is a Kofta Curry, the ingredients are divided into 2 different lists. Please make sure to collect all the ingredients in advance before you start cooking.

Ingredients for Vegetarian Kofta

Paneer – You can use either home made paneer or store bought paneer. I normally use store bought paneer for this recipe.

Potato – Boiled Potato is a binding agent for kofta. Also it adds to the softeness of the kofta.

Corn Starch– Since the kofta dough can be still crumbly, cornflour is used to make a tight firm dough. This makes sure that the kofta does not disintegrate while deep frying. You can use all purpose flour too.

Spices – It is very mildly spiced with just red chili powder, Garam Masala, and Salt.

Nuts – Although I did not use any nuts for the kofta, but traditional recipe calls for finely chopped cashews & raisins. Cashews and raisins are stuffed inside the kofta for more rich flavors. My kids do not like the nuts inside, therefore I skipped it.

Malai Curry Ingredients

Although most of the recipes that you find online have a long list of curry ingredients, I try to keep it simple. Since my MALAI CURRY is very similar to MAKHANI CURRY, my list of curry ingredients is much shorter. Here are the ingredients :

Oil  – Although cooking oil is used in the recipe, but you can use BUTTER as well.

Red Onions – I use less amount of red onions for this kind of curry.

Tomatoes – Tomatoes are more in quanity for this kind of curry. They lend not only the color but beautiful flavor too.

Ginger – Ginger is a must fresh ingredient in Indian curries. Since it aids the digetsion it is an important ingredient. Use only a small amount.

Green Chili – If you like the curry a bit spicy then add a small Green Chili or 1/2 jalapeno. Or skip it completely. You know your heat tolerance index. Decide to include or opt out.

Cashews – Cashews make this curry ROYAL. I soak and grind the cashews and then add to the curry. It lends the sweet creamy texture to the curry. If you do not like cashews, then you can go for almond meal as well.

Spices – red chili powder, Garam Masala, Salt, Kashmiri Red Chili (adds color), Coriander powder, Sugar, and Kasuri Methi are the spices for this curry.

Garnish – Fresh cream or Heavy whipping cream is the common garnish. You can also add some chopped cashews and raisins to the curry later. Kasuri Methi is another garnish that enhances the look of thr curry.

Kitchen Gadgets for this Recipe

Grater

Mixing Bowl

Chopping Board & Knife

Frying Pan or Air fryer if you plan to air fry

Frying ladle

Chopping Board & Knife

Measuring Cups & Spoons

Sauce pan

Blender

How to make MALAI KOFTA CURRY at home?

PLEASE WATCH THE INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING.

This recipe is divided into 2 parts – Making Kofta and then Making Curry. Finally putting both together. Although the koftas are traditionally deep fried, you can easily air fry these as well. Find both the methods below.

How to make Kofta for Malai Kofta Recipe?

1. Form the Kofta Dough: First of all grate Paneer and Boiled Potato in a Mixing Bowl. Then add the corn starch, red chili powder, Garam Masala, and Salt to the grated ingredients. Then slowly start mixing with hands to form a firm dough. Start with 1 tbsp corn starch for binding. But if you need more corn starch for binding, add more but 1 tsp at a time.
2. NOTE: More corn starch might make the koftas very hard. You may also use 1-2 tsp of water to bind the ingredients together. The water content in paneer and potato vary so start with 1 tbsp of corn starch and then go further.
3. Shaping the Koftas: Once the dough is formed set aside for 5 minutes. Meanwhile grease your hands and pinch golf size balls from the dough and roll them really tight between your hands. If you plan to DEEP FRY KOFTAS, then make sure that there are no cracks on the outside. You can make 8-10 balls out of it. You can also shape them in flat patties or cylindrical croquette shape. And if you plan to AIR FRY KOFTAS, then I recommend that you shape the koftas in flat patties for even cooking.
4. Stuffing the Koftas: Although the original Mali Kofta Recipe calls for stuffing them with chopped cashews and raisins, I skipped it. Since my kids do not eat the nuts inside the koftas, I did not add. But if you plan to add nuts then chop cashews and raisins into small pieces. Then after pinching the golf size balls out of the paneer potato dough, roll and flatten a bit. Further place 1/2 tsp of chopped nuts in the middle of the patty. Then bring the sides up and roll and make a smooth ball. Set aside. Finish making kofta balls. You will make 8-10 koftas.

Deep Frying Koftas

1. When it comes to deep frying, temperature of the oil matters a lot. Heat the oil on medium high heat and add a tiny firm piece of kofta in the oil for testing. (watch the video).
2. When the kofta comes up to the surface swiftly and gradually, the oil is ready.
3. Further add 4 koftas at a time to the hot oil. Do not touch the koftas too much or they can break. Once you see them turning golden at the bottom, then carefully turn these with a slotted spoon to fry on the other side too.
4. Remove to a paper towel lined plate. Working in batches, fry all the paneer kofta this way and drain them on a paper napkin so that the extra oil is absorbed.

How to make Malai Kofta in Air Fryer?

I air fried some koftas in the air fryer and these came out really well.

Firstly preheat the air fryer at 360*F. Then apply a little oil to both sides of the kofta patties before air frying. Further airfry for 10-12 minutes. Flip in between for even cooking. The time will depend upon the model and size of your air fryer. I used Instant Vortex airfryer.

How to make the Vegetarian Curry of the Malai Kofta?

1. Soaking the Cashews: Soak the cashews in warm water for 30 minutes minimum. When you plan to make malai kofta for the occassion, this should be your first step and then go on with kofta etc.
2. Prep Onions: Make sure that you chop onions really fine. You may use a food processor for that. Or you can choose to make a fine onion paste in a blender. Finely chopped onions will give you more texture curry whereas onion paste will give you more fine smooth texture. You can pick to your choice. I alternate between the 2.
3. Prep Tomato Paste: Now take a blender and add chopped tomatoes, soaked & drained cashews, ginger, green chili and kashmiri chili powder(optional) to it. Blend till the ingredients make a smooth paste. Set aside.
4. Make the Curry: Take a heavy bottom pan or sauce pan and heat oil in it. FUrther reduce the heat to medium and add the prepped onions to it. Saute for 5-7 minutes till golden. Now add the tomato paste to it along with red chili powder, Garam Masala, Salt, Coriander powder, Sugar, and Kasuri Methi. Give a good stir. Add 1 &1/2 cups of water to it. Give a taste test and add more salt or sugar as needed. Cover the pan with a lid and cook on medium heat till the curry thickens for about 8-10 minutes. You can control the consistency of the curry to your choice. You may add more water later if you want. Curry is ready.

How to serve Malai Kofta?

Take a serving bowl. Add hot curry to the bowl and add the fresh cream to it. Further add the fried koftas to it in a single layer. Sprinkle some crushed Kasuri Methi on top.

Tips & Tricks to make Malai Kofta

1. Make sure that the frying temperature of the oil is ideal. Medium Heat is ideal that is about 180*F.
2. Do not over handle the koftas while frying or it can break.
3. Do not over crowd the frying pan.
4. Be careful while deep frying and protect yourself from any spills.
5. You can make curry sweeter with either sugar or sugar substitute. Even Honey works. It is a Muhgal Curry and it is on the slighter sweeter side.
6. You can prepare curry and Kofta in advance, even a day before. Heat and put them together just before serving.
7. The curry thickens as it sits. So if you plan to prep it in advance then loosen it up before serving with some water. Check the salt, sugar and garam masala.
8. A cheat spice substitute is use SHAHI PANEER masala instead of all the spices mentioned above.
9. You can store the leftovers in an air tight container in refrigerator.

How to make Vegan Malai Kofta?

It is pretty simple actually. Use tofu in place of paneer. Skip the heavy cream in the end. You may use coconut cream to thicken it.

PROTIP for quick fix heavy cream: There are times when you have everything but no heavy cream for the garnish. This is what I do – Take 1 tbsp of milk powder and add 1-2 tsp milk to it slowly. Mix well. My instant Heavy Cream is ready.

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Malai Kofta Video Recipe

Easy Malai Kofta Recipe

I am sure you are goin to try this recipe soon. Please rate the recipe and leave your feedback in comments.

Sonal