Kofta Noor Jahani Vegetable And Paneer Koftas In Creamy Gravy

This week we are beginning our usual three-day marathon with a specific theme each week. My theme for the week is cooking recipes of my Favorite Celebrity chef. All three days it has to be a different chef. It is going to be so hard for me to choose the three I really like because I have quite a few favorites. The first chef I chose is Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. I loved watching Khana khazana even as a young girl and I still do. He is one chef that I can never grow tired of. This Kofta Noor Jahani recipe has been in my recipe book for a very long time and I have just made it once or twice before. I made this today after a very long time and I was wowed by its flavors. I think I wrote this Paneer Kofta recipe from one of his TV show episodes.

Kofta do’s and don’ts -

The procedure is a little lengthy but the flavors are very clean and simple. Earlier I made the mistake of dropping the fried koftas in the hot gravy and I have seen it disappearing right in front of my eyes. Now that I am slightly more refined, I keep my koftas and gravy separately, and just before serving add it to the warm gravy. This Vegetable and Paneer kofta freezes very well after frying. To bring it back to life, just heat it up in the oven and then add it to the gravy. I freeze any leftover koftas and on days when I have a little excess gravy (from any subzi), I add these koftas to it. Also, I have changed the recipe a little bit here and there. I have noticed in the past that gravy is never sufficient. So I have included tomatoes in the recipes which are not a part of the original recipe. In this particular instance, I replaced one potato with a sweet potato. Adding sweet potato made the koftas a little bit sweeter which we loved.

How to make the Kofta in the air fryer -

Ever since I bought the air fryer, I have been using it much more than I thought I will be using it. I tried to make the koftas in the air fryer today and it came out marvelous. This saves so much hands-on time when cooking. I followed the exact method to make the kofta and then placed it in the lightly sprayed preheated air fryer basket. I cooked it at 375 f and it took about 13 to 15 minutes for the koftas to be evenly fried. The texture was marvelous and I don’t think I will ever do it any other way now. Lately, I have been making so many different recipes of kofta by mixing and matching the recipes. One of the other recipes that have become my favorite is this Cabbage and Paneer Kofta. Cabbage is such a versatile recipe and I see myself using it in many recipes. And as weird as I might sound, my boys, are crazy about the classic Malai Kofta recipe. So any Kofta I make, has to be called the malai kofta. Preparation time – 20 minsCooking time – 1 hrDifficulty level – medium

Ingredients to make Kofta Noor Jahani – Serves 6-8

To make the koftas –

Potato – 1 Sweet potato – 1 (if not available use 1 more potato) Paneer – 200 gms (grated) Green chilies – 2 (finely chopped) Cilantro – a handful (finely chopped) Corn flour – 2 tbsp Raisins – ¼ cup Salt – to taste Oil – to deep fry the koftas

For the gravy

Onions – 3 large Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp Oil/butter – 3 tbsp Turmeric powder – 1 tsp Chili powder – 1 tsp Garam masala – 1 tsp Cashew nuts – ¼ cup Tomato – 2 large Fresh cream – ½ cup

Procedure to make Kofta Noor Jahani –

To make the koftas –

Boil the Potato and sweet potato, peel, and mash them. Grate the paneer and add it to the mashed potato.

Add chopped green chilies, cilantro, and salt to the mixture. Also, add the corn flour and mix it to form a smooth dough.

Make small balls out of the dough and stuff each of the balls with 2 or 3 raisins. Close the balls and keep it aside.

Heat sufficient oil in a pan and deep fry these koftas until they are golden brown. Add only 3-4 koftas at a time when frying. Overcrowding the pan lowers the temperature of the oil and koftas could break apart.

Drain them on a paper towel-lined tray and keep them aside until ready to serve. Also, the koftas could be kept warm in the oven until ready to serve.

To make the gravy –

Chop the onions into quarters and cook them in a pressure cooker until mushy with just ¼ cup of water. Once cooled a bit grind it into a smooth paste.

Soak the cashews in warm water for about 15 mins. Grind it into a paste with the tomatoes and keep aside.

In a wide pan, add the oil/butter and heat it. Add the ground onion paste and sauté till the onions are pink.

Now add the ginger garlic paste and continue to sauté.

Add the turmeric powder, red chili powder and cook for 2 more minutes.

Now add the cashew-tomato mixture and sauté it till the oil floats on top. At this stage the gravy would be thick and bubbly, so stir constantly to avoid it from sticking to the pan.

Now add the salt, garam masala, and a cup of water and simmer for about 10 mins.

Add the cream and heat it through. Do not let it boil after adding the cream.