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You are here: Home / Gravy Vegetarian Side Dishes / Malai Kofta – Easy Malai Kofta Recipe, Step by Step

Malai Kofta – Easy Malai Kofta Recipe, Step by Step

November 24, 2015 37 Comments

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TH loves Malai Koftas and they are a regular whenever we eat out (that or Palak Paneer!). I have eaten the whole range of Malai Koftas you can come across – the good, the bad, and the downright rubbery balls in goop.

Malai Kofta Recipe | Paneer Recipes
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I’ve been wanting to try some of my own and finally got around to it couple of months back. It’s not a short and easy recipe, let me be honest, but it’s all worth it at the end, trust me.

The first step is to make the aloo paneer koftas so go on ahead and do that, I’ll wait.

Ready?

Ok now to the gravy to complete the Malai Kofta Recipe.

Malai Kofta Recipe

Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1 batch of aloo paneer koftas
1 large onion, pureed
1 tomato, pureed
12 cashew nuts, soaked in warm water for 30 mins and ground to a paste
1 tsp of red chilli powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
1 tbsp of kasuri methi / dried fenugreek leaves
1 tbsp of tomato sauce (optional)
2 tbsp of cream
Salt to taste
2 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp of jeera / cumin, powdered
1/2 cup of milk

How to Make Malai Kofta Recipe:

1. Heat oil and add the cumin powder. Fry for 5 seconds. Add the tomato and onion puree. Saute for 2-3 mins until the raw smell disappears.

2. Add the chilli powder, coriander powder, salt, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, and hing.

Malai Kofta Recipe | Paneer RecipesPin

3. Fry for another 2 mins. Now add the kasuri methi and the tomato sauce (if using). Top it off with the ground cashew pate. Mix well and let it cook for 5 mins on low flame.

Malai Kofta Recipe | Paneer RecipesPin

4. Add the milk. Bring to boil and simmer for a minute.

Malai Kofta Recipe | Paneer RecipesPin

5. Finally add the cream and mix well. Test for salt.

Malai Kofta Recipe | Paneer RecipesPin

6. Gently drop in the koftas and cover with the sauce. Turn off fire and let it sit for some time for the gravy to soak through.

Malai Kofta Recipe | Paneer RecipesPin

Serve with warm jeera rice or rotis, with a garnish of grated paneer or fresh coriander leaves. I

Notes:

– If you prefer a white base for your malai kofta, skip the tomato and tomato sauce and add more cream and cashew paste.

– Some prefer to omit the onion, and that’s fine too but I feel like it gives the gravy a nice base. I also wanted to avoid using too much cream.

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By nags Filed Under: Gravy Vegetarian Side Dishes, Paneer Recipes, Punjabi Recipes, Uncategorized

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Naomi

    January 21, 2013 at 12:59 pm

    I had this delicious meal at a restaurant yesterday and today I am so happy to find the recipe here! Thanks for the clear directions and the great pictures. I am going to try this at home. The only thing that I can tell that was differen t yesterday is that there were cardamom seeds in my dish. Have you had it made this way? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      January 22, 2013 at 2:10 am

      hey naomi, as you can imagine, there are a few different ways you can make malai kofta. you can definitely add a couple of pods of crushed cardamom while roasting the onions. that will add more flavour of the spice to the malai kofta

      Reply
  2. Srikala

    December 7, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    Hi Nags,

    Tried this recipe today and it was amazing!This recipe is simply great and tasted divine… Everyone loved it…One problem was while frying the koftas they started to disintegrate in the oil.Actually the thing is that i can never follow a recipe to the T, I use my own measurements (Except while baking of course)and so i used more amount of paneer than the boiled potatoes and they disintegrated.Rectified it by adding more potatoes..so a general tip is to use lesser quantity of paneer than potatoes!that the

    Sri.

    Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      December 8, 2012 at 12:38 am

      Thanks for leaving the note Srikala 🙂

      Reply
  3. Anonymous

    November 7, 2012 at 12:52 pm

    Hi Nags, great recipe.. I absolutely love malai kofta. I know the gravy can be made in advance and refrigerated, but can the kofte be made in advance too (made and fried a day ahead of a big party) so that when it is time to serve, you just heat up the gravy, then drop the koftas(they can be warmed up in an oven, may be to freshen them up.)Do you think this will work?

    Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      November 7, 2012 at 1:33 pm

      absolutely! that should work just fine 🙂

      Reply
  4. Anonymous

    November 4, 2012 at 12:39 am

    Just had the malai koftas, was delicious. Thanks so much for this great recipe!

    Reply
  5. Anonymous

    August 30, 2012 at 7:28 pm

    Hi, Malai Kofta is my husband's favorite meal, but we've moved to an area with no Indian food, so I'm looking forward to giving this recipe a try. I like your version (everyone seems to have their own). I've looked around and can't seem to find asafoetida, and some people have suggested that the asafoetida you can buy online isn't gluten free (which we need to be). Can you suggested a reasonable substitution?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      August 31, 2012 at 2:26 am

      there really isn't a good substitute for hing / asafoetida but for this recipe, you can omit it.

      Reply
  6. Abha

    June 27, 2012 at 6:56 am

    Hi, This recipe is really good and tasty. tried it and taste was really good.
    thanks Nagalakshmi
    🙂

    Reply
  7. Anonymous

    May 18, 2012 at 4:21 pm

    looks really nice and yummy

    Reply
  8. Karthik

    March 27, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    Hey, Nice recipe.

    Try adding 1 tsp of powdered poppy seeds. It gives a distinct heady flavor 🙂

    Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      March 28, 2012 at 1:33 am

      that's definitely a great tip to make malai kofta taste better 🙂

      Reply
  9. Tanya

    March 26, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    Your reipes are really great!!!!

    Reply
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Hello!

I am Nags, the face behind Edible Garden, a food and recipes website for the busy (and sometimes lazy!) cook since 2007. My recipes are meant to be quick yet healthy and delicious - Nothing fancy, nothing too difficult. Follow Me On Instagram for real-time food and life updates.

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