Paneer Kofta

A fantastic kofta dish for vegetarians, this came out of several unsuccessful early attempts at making paneer with the help of my eldest son Ariz. The end result was a rather sad crumbly cheese that did not become compact. I made this kofta with it, as I remembered that Ammu would often use the crumbly edges of the paneer she made to make this dish. I eventually learned how to make the perfect paneer and now have to crumble it up to make this.

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 slice of bread, crusts removed
• 500g paneer, crumbled
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
• 5 green chillies, chopped (fewer if you don’t like it too hot), plus 2 whole green chillies, to garnish
• 1 clove, ground
• ¼ tsp each freshly roasted and ground cardamom and cassia bark (or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon)
• 1 small white onion, finely chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• vegetable oil, for deep-frying
  
  

Sauce

• 5 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 dried red chillies, broken in half
• 2 cloves
• 1 green cardamom pod
• 3 onions, chopped
• 1½  tsp ginger paste
• 1½  tsp garlic paste
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
  
  

METHOD

Soak the bread in cold water, then squeeze out all the liquid, break it up and place in a bowl. Mix with the paneer and the remaining kofta ingredients. Shape the mixture into small ovals, each about the size of a golf ball.

Fill a deep, heavy-based pan or wok no more than one-third full of oil. Heat until it is hot but not smoking; test by adding a cube of bread – it should brown in 30 seconds. Deep-fry the kofta in batches until they darken, then set them aside to drain on kitchen paper.

To make the sauce, heat the oil in a pan over a medium–high heat, add the dried red chillies, cloves, cardamom, onions and the ginger and garlic pastes, and fry until the onions are golden brown. Add the turmeric and coriander and cook for 30 seconds, then add 2 tablespoons of water to prevent the onions and spices from burning. Reduce the heat, then add the tomato purée and cook until the oil separates from the mixture. Add 250ml water and simmer for 2–3 minutes.

Just before you are ready to serve, add the kofta to the sauce and turn them around very gently a few times. They break easily, so don’t move them too much. Garnish with green chillies and serve with pulao or bread.