Treat your tummy with an absolute melt in mouth paneer kofta dunked in a rich creamy badami gravy. I had the pleasure of eating this royal treat in a near by restaurant few days back. The badami gravy is not just rich but also provides a amazing flavor ride to your palate. Basically the recipe comes under Awadhi Cusine and is quite close to Malai Kofta. The paneer kofta recipe resembles to malai kofta a lot but the gravy makes a huge difference when it comes to taste.
The royal gravy has a smooth texture but along with that it also gives you a bite because of the almonds paste added in a huge quantity. The cream gives an amazing sweetness to the gravy that makes you have it more and more. The nuts hidden inside the fried koftas gives a perfect crunch and texture. Over all the dish is a bit heavy to digest hence recommended to have a walk after having it in dinner….lol
Prep Time | 20 minutes |
Cook Time | 15 minutes |
Servings |
helping
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- 250 grams Paneer Cottage Cheese /
- 2 Potatoes - medium
- 2 tbsp Cornflour
- Salt - as needed
- 1/2 tsp Black pepper powder
- Raisins - few
- Cashew nuts - few
- Oil for frying
- 3 Onions - medium
- 1 tsp Garlic paste
- 1 tsp Ginger paste
- 4 tbsp Tomato puree
- 4 tbsp Almond paste
- 2 tbsp Fresh cream
- strands Saffron - few
- 1 tbsp Milk
- 1 tsp zeera caraway seeds Shah /
- 1 Cinnamon - stick
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 1 1/2 tbsp Coriander powder
- 1 tbsp Red chilli powder
- 1 tbsp Kitchen king powder
- Salt - as needed
- 4 tbsp Oil
Ingredients
For Paneer Koftas :
For Badami Gravy :
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- Boil, peel and mash potatoes with grated paneer, salt and black pepper powder. Mix them all together to make a dough.
- Pinch a lemon sized ball from the dough, stuff a raisin and a cashew nut between and roll between the palm to make a round or a cylindrical kofta.
- In a small bowl, mix cornflour with water to make a flowing solution.
- Heat oil in a wok. Now take the koftas, dip into the cornflour solution and fry in hot oil till light golden in color.
- Drain on a kitchen towel to remove excess oil. Similarly fry rest of the koftas in batches and keep aside.
- Grind onions into a fine paste and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a wok and add shah zeera and cinnamon stick. As soon as the zeera starts popping, add onion paste and fry well till the odor goes off.
- Now add ginger garlic paste and fry all nicely till golden in color.
- Add tomato puree with coriander powder, red chilli powder and kitchen king powder. Fry all well for few minutes till the oil starts leaving the sides.
- Now add almond paste ( Blanch almonds, remove skin and grind them into a fine paste using little water.) , fresh cream and give all a quick stir. Cook the masala for another few minutes. Keep checking the masala as it should not stick the bottom of the wok.
- Meanwhile take milk in a small bowl and soak saffron in it. Once the masala is done, add the soaked saffron milk into it and sir well.
- Now add little water to make a thick gravy as per your choice. Adjust salt and allow it to cook with lids closed for few minutes.
- Now switch off the flames and drop the koftas carefully into the gravy and sprinkle some cinnamon powder all over. Swirl in some melted butter on top and garnish it with grated paneer and some blanched almonds.
- Serve hot with Naan or Veg pulao 🙂