Food and Drink > Lancashire Recipes > Celebrity Recipes > Dave Spikey - Malai Kofta

Dave Spikey - Malai Kofta

A dish for special occasions, Malai Kofta is the vegetarian alternative to meatballs. It goes very well with naans or rice.

What you need:
For the koftas:
2 cups peeled and diced boiled potatoes
1 cup mixed vegetables (carrots, beans, peas, sweet corn) boiled
1 cup paneer cubes (ricotta cheese will do)
2 tbsps of double cream
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 cup chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts and cashew nuts)
1/4 raisins chopped fine
Salt to taste
Vegetable/ Sunflower cooking oil to fry the koftas

For the sauce:
3 tbsps vegetable/ sunflower cooking oil
2 large onions quartered
2 tomatoes quartered
2 tbsps garlic paste
1 tbsp ginger paste
2 tsps coriander powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp poppy seeds lightly roasted and ground into a powder
3 tbsps nuts (cashews and almonds) ground into a thick paste
Salt to taste
2 tsps garam masala

What to do
Mash the potatoes, mixed vegetables, paneer (ricotta) and cream together. Add the kofta spices to this mash and mix well. The resulting dough should be firm. If not add some more boiled potato.
Season with salt.
Make this dough into balls and put 1/2 a tsp of the nut and raisin mix in the center of each ball. Roll into perfect rounds.
Heat the oil kept aside to fry the koftas, on a medium flame. Deep fry these rounds till pale golden in colour.
Drain on paper towels and keep aside.
For the gravy (sauce), first heat the 3 tbsps of oil in a deep pan and fry the onions till light brown.
Grind into a paste along with the tomatoes, onions, ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin and red chilli powders.
Put this paste back into the pan and fry till the oil begins to separate from the masala.
Add the poppy seeds powder and nut paste and fry for another 2-3 minutes.
Add 1 cup of warm water (the sauce for this dish is meant to be thick so do not add too much water) to this masala to form a sauce/gravy. Mix well. Season with salt.
Bring the sauce/gravy to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
Gently add the kofas to this sauce/gravy and cook uncovered for 2-3 minutes.
Turn off the heat and sprinkle the garam masala all over the top of the dish. Cover immediately and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
Serve with hot Naan Bread or Rice.