Malai Kofta recipe - a delicious vegetarian dish

Ingredients

100-150g of paneer
1.5-2 cups of cooked rice
A handful of cashew nuts
1 dessertspoon of raisins/sultanas
1 dessertspoon of desiccated coconut
1 small onion
1 or 2 tomatoes
2 cups of yohgurt
2 cups of water
A piece of root ginger
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
3 cloves
2 cardamoms
A piece of cinnamon bark
1 teaspoon of whole coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns
A third of a teaspoon of chilli powder
Salt
Oil

To make the koftas, first mash the rice using a potato masher or something similar - even the base of a coffee jar will do. Crumble the paneer with a fork and mix it with the mashed rice, coconut, raisins, a little salt and half of the cashew nuts, broken or lightly chopped. Add just a little yoghurt if the mixture seems too dry and mix everything well. Leave to one side while you prepare the sauce.

Dry roast the whole spices and grind them with a pestle and mortar. Add the chopped garlic, ginger and the remaining cashews and pound to a paste. Chop the onion finely and fry in oil for a few minutes before adding the spice paste. After another few minutes of frying, add the chopped tomato then a few minutes later, the yoghurt, water, chilli powder and some more salt.

When the liquid starts to boil, use your hands to form the kofta mix into 5 or 6 balls and lay them in the pan. Use a spoon to pour some of the sauce over the koftas then turn the heat down very low and cover the pan. Simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. 

Kashmiri dum aloo recipe.  ( aloo = potato )

Ingredients

70-80g of paneer
Around 7-9 small to medium potatoes
1 onion
1 tomato (or a tsp. of tomato puree)
1 dessert spoon of raisins
2 dessertspoons of desiccated coconut
A good handful of cashew nuts
4 or 5 dessertspoons of yoghurt
1 tsp. of jam
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
A small piece of root ginger
1 tsp. coriander seeds
A few black peppercorns
A pinch of aniseeds
3 cloves
A piece of cinnamon bark
2 cardamoms
A pinch of dried methi leaves
Vegetable oil
Salt

Once you've prepared the potatoes, move on to the stuffing. Mash the paneer with two teaspoons of coconut, a few crushed cashew nuts, the jam, most of the raisins, a little salt and enough yoghurt to bind everything together (a dessertspoon should do it). Drain the potatoes and stuff them with the mixture.

Peel the onion, ginger and garlic. Chop everything including the tomato but keep them separate. Heat the pan and when it is really hot, throw in all the whole dry spices and roast them for half a minute or less - until you can smell them. Transfer the roasted spices to a mortar, put some oil in the pan and add the chopped onion. Turn the heat down and while the onion is softening, grind the spices then add the garlic and ginger and pound everything to a paste. Add the paste to the pan and stir. Fry for a few minutes then add the tomato, two or three cups of water and some salt. Sit the potatoes in the pan, holes facing upwards and when the sauce starts boiling, turn the heat down quite low and cover the pan. Let the pan simmer gently for fifteen minutes.Smash up the rest of the cashew nuts with the pestle and mortar until they begin to form a paste, then mix in the rest of the yoghurt and coconut, the methi and the few raisins you saved from the stuffing. Thin this sauce with water until it has the consistency of pouring cream. When the potatoes have been simmering for fifteen minutes, pour over the yoghurt sauce and simmer for a further ten minutes.

To serve, lift two potatoes on to a plate for each person and spoon some sauce over them. You could serve some plain boiled rice along with them. -

 Easy Vegetarian meals