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April 15, 2009

Aloo Kofta




Kofta! For the longest time, I hunted for a good malai kofta. In fact, for a while, I ordered it each time we went to an Indian restaurant. For some reason, most places here serve malai kofta in a sweetish white gravy. The koftas always seem to have raisins in them. Now, I firmly believe that north indian food served in some restaurants in south india are just the way I like them. For instance, I love the chhole bhature you get at Shiv Sagar in Bangalore much more than what they serve at a Bikanerwala in Gurgaon. In fact, sometimes I crave "south indian style" north indian food. And no, I don't mean curry leaves laden gravies. There's this place that I went to called Verdhan (a Bangalore based chain) in Gurgaon. As always, I ordered malai kofta. I quickly checked what colour the gravy was. The guy said, 'Brown'. I was so thrilled. I haven't ordered malai kofta since even when we've been to Indian restaurants. I'll savour that taste for some time to come.






I decided to make some aloo kofta to take for lunch. Somehow, my colleagues didn't seem to know that such a dish even exists. They've only heard of malai kofta and lauki kofta. I've had both these and have also also had potato kofta. Since I very rarely make anything with potatoes and even more rarely fry food, this had to be a treat.




For the Kofta:


1 cup Potato, cooked, peeled and mashed


1 tsp Green Chilli paste


1 tsp Ginger Paste


1 tsp Garlic Paste


1 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped


1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder


1/4 tsp Chilli Powder


1 tbsp Flour, mixed in 2 tbsp water


Salt to taste




For the gravy:



1 Onion, chopped


2 tbsp Cashews


1 tsp Poppy Seeds


2 Red chillies


1 tsp Ginger Paste


1 tsp Garlic Paste


1 tsp Cumin Seeds


1 tsp Coriander Seeds


1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder




2 tbsp Oil


1/2 cup Milk


Salt to taste


Coriander Leaves for garnish




Grind the ingredients for the gravy in a mixer using a little water if necessary.




Mix all the ingredients for the kofta (except the flour-water mixture) and shape into small balls. Heat the appey pan and put a few drops of oil in each mould. Dip each ball in the flour-water mixture and place it in the moulds. Cook until each ball is golden brown, turning every minute or so. Remove from the pan and drain on absorbent paper.




Heat a tablespoon of oil and add the ground paste. Fry this for a few minutes until the oil separates from the paste. Add the salt and fry for a minute. Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the koftas and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves.




This recipe is a keeper. I remembered the recipe for the koftas from Amma's koftas. But I just went with whatever I could lay my hands on when it came to the gravy. It is a very rich and creamy dish that gives you the feeling of "rich food". Thank heavens it comes without that much guilt.


I'm sending this to Let's Go Nuts: Cashews, being hosted by Poornima of Tasty Treats.

28 comments:

Bong Mom said...

Alo Kofta sounds great

chef and her kitchen said...

Aloo kofta looks yummy...Even i like shiv sagar's chole batura..

FH said...

Last weekend, we went to Udupi restaurant here about 100miles away, they had really good Malai Koftas. Kids never like vegetarian restaurant but I convinced to get Malai Koftas which looks like Meatballs! :D

Your recipe really sounds good, will try next week. Gravy masala sounds great.

Raaga said...

@Sandeepa: Do try it :) Let me know if you like it.

@Prathibha: I'd love to go to Shiv Sagar's and eat chhole bhature now :)

@Ashakka:Yeah... I make spaghetti meat balls with paneer balls :) so I can imagine :)

Do let me know how it turns out.

Deepthi Shankar said...

I have never had koftas with aloo. this looks nice

FewMinute Wonders said...

Hi Raaga,

Made paneer kofta in the appam kuzhi some days ago and it came out well. Aloo kofta color looks good. The orange looks very nice. Will try the aloo version soon.

suvi said...

this gravy looks really nice and creamy - love it that it is so guilt free!

bee said...

fantastic colour. i hate malai kofta for the same reasons you state. this looks just right.

delhibelle said...

i don't enjoy the cloying sweetness of standard malai koftas, so these look really good!
Sometimes,I also like the southie style north indian grub, esp biryani, but for cholay,i remain loyal to the spicy,oily, black dilli type stuff over the southern version;)

Jayashree said...

Lovely colour.....

Priya Suresh said...

Droolworthy kofta Raaga...looks rich and creamy!

Lavanya Raj said...

Iam Drooling Here! Looks so colurfull and creamy!

Yes Raaga, u can share the post on pondicherry for our RCI-Pondicherry. Looking forward for the URL..

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow iam bookmarking this....Makes me droooooooooool.....

Cynthia said...

Oh Raaga, that bowl with the kofta is rather inviting.

A_and_N said...

I love Malai Kofta. yours is a must try.

And Shiv Sagar rocks no? :D

Le @HC said...

Frying and time to put together put malai kofta puts me off too. Enjoy ur treat! Looks great!

Unknown said...

Potato koftas sound yummy! Gravy looks rich n creamy.

Vegetarian Zest said...

I can't wait to get back home and try this.

Sia said...

so this the kofta u were talking abt. that looks delicious Raaga.
Kofta is Mughalai dish which is inspired by persian cooking where they use good dose of dried fruits. that's why most koftas have raisins, cashews or almonds in them as Mughals liked their food to be rich and creamy :) (read it in one of the online food articles)

Raaga said...

Thanks everyone. I do hope you try this and let me know how you liked it.

Thanks for that piece of info Sia... at least I know why they put that stuff in :)

And yes people, ShivSagar rocks... big time!

Rekha said...

I would love to try this one, coz i have loads of aloo sitting pretty in my kitchen..

Anonymous said...

i must make this if i am anywhere close to the love i claim for K... he will be ecstatic!! i hate the sweetish gravies that come with koftas

Anjali said...

Raaga, how many servings does this kofta recipe make?
Thanks, Anjali

Raaga said...

Anjali: It was enough for 2 of us for lunch. With other dishes, it could be enough for 4.

Pooh said...

my husband loves this dish. i know how you feel about ordering this in a restaruant...you never know what you'll get. Sometimes i get potato dumplings, sometimes mixed veggies. One time I got maida dumplings and even though they were really good, it wasn't what I had in mind. Kudos to you for making these for lunch!

Deepti said...

Hi Raaga. Tried this recipe of yours yesterday with some alterations. I used curds instead of milk and I also added grated lauki to the potato kofta mixture.It turned out well.

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