Spinach Paneer Koftas in Makhani Gravy

Rate this recipe: (2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

 Loading ...

These kofta’s are extremely delicious and is very common in my household. The lightly deep fried spinach with stuffed paneer brings out the individual taste. When cut into half and served, it gives a moonlit night feel to the kofta. The makhani gravy has a slight touch of sweetness, which enhances the taste of the makhani gravy. Enjoy this dish with hot phulka’s or a bread of your choice.

Serves: 4 persons

Cooking time: about 40 minutes Preparation Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For Koftas

• 1 cup crumbled paneer
• 5 cups finely chopped spinach
• ¼ cup of gram flour
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• Salt to taste
• Vegetable/Sunflower oil for deep frying

 

Method

Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan; sauté the spinach on high heat until it gets soft enough and before it gives out its water. Turn off heat at this point.

Allow the spinach to cool.

Once it cools mix the gram flour and salt to taste. Divide into 12 portions.

Mix paneer, cumin powder and salt; divide into 12 portions/balls.Try to make sureit does not become brittle. If it is ready made paneer, it could have a brittle texture, if that is the case, add a little warm water and knead it, then divide it into portions.

In the mean while, heat about 2 cups of oil in a wok. The amount of oil you use for frying the kofta’s depends on the size of the wok. So use your judgment in this regard. You need to be able to deep fry the kofta’s in the oil.

Take a portion of the spinach, flatten it on your palm and stuff the paneer balls in it. Shape it into a ball (kofta). While doing this, you might feel that the spinach mixture is not that pliable that it easily folds onto the paneer and makes a ball. That’s the right feeling. Its not very easy to handle them. If you feel the spinach does not cover the paneer properly, just patch the paneer all around with the spinach mixture. It works!

Once the oil is hot, slowly put a few kofta’s at a time for frying.

Fry them on high flame and take them out when they turn brown in color. Frying on low flame will make it consume a lot more oil.

Drain in a paper napkin.

For Makhani Gravy

• 1 cup onion
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 2 teaspoons chopped ginger
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar/honey
• ½ cup cream or reduced fat milk
• 1 teaspoon kasuri methi/dried fenugreek leaves.
• 2 tablespoons vegetable/sunflower oil
• Salt to taste

Method

Make a fine paste of onion, garlic and ginger together.

Puree tomatoes until smooth.

Heat oil in a frying pan/wok; Sauté the onions, garlic and ginger paste until cooked and raw smell almost gone, about 2-3 minutes. Add turmeric powder, garam masala powder, chilli powder and saute for a couple of minutes.

Add Tomatoes, milk/cream, and salt to taste and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add the sugar/honey, kasuri methi and simmer for a few minutes.

You can either serve the kofta’s cut into half on top of the makhani gravy or add them as a whole. Do not boil the kofta’s in the gravy as they are liable to break.

The tip is to add the kofta’s into the makhani gravy and the coriander just before serving. Stir gently to make sure the kofta’s don’t break.

Enjoy the kofta’s with hot phulka’s .

Filed under: North Indian

 Email This Recipe  Print This Recipe

---

You may also like ...

• Paneer Makhani
• Gujarati Dal
• Butter Naan
• Doodhi Kofta (Loukhi Kofta)
• Mushroom Vindaloo

25 Responses to “Spinach Paneer Koftas in Makhani Gravy”

1. Namratha, on January 13th, 2008 at 12:19 am Said:

   The koftas look gorgeous Archana, nice recipe!!

2. Mansi, on January 13th, 2008 at 12:23 am Said:

   This looks awesome Archana:) I make this often too, except that I add a little potato to spinach do it holds shape better….I also like Hariyali Koftas, paneer koftas in spinach gravy:)

   there are so many variaitons to Indian cooking, its s fabulous!:D

   -Mansi
   http://funnfud.blogspot.com

3. RedChillies, on January 13th, 2008 at 12:26 am Said:

   Hi Archana, this is my first time to your website and love it.

   This Spinach Paneer Kofta is a very new recipe for me. Loved the idea and your description “moonlit night” feel to kofta. Hope to learn more recipes from you.

4. richa, on January 13th, 2008 at 10:09 pm Said:

   love that first pic
   aah! kofta in gravy, always welcome in my home sometimes i make this only in tomato gravy.

5. Bharathy, on January 13th, 2008 at 11:41 pm Said:

   A little laborious!..but a real royal side dish!

   Sanjeev kappor who visited our town very recently did the same koftas and called it Hara bhara kababs!!!..The recipe calls for filling with hung yoghurt.but he too used paneer just like you had!!

   Love the pic too

6. Seena, on January 14th, 2008 at 12:14 am Said:

   Archana,
   am first time here..thanks for visiting my site..
   You have very nice recipes, I like this spinach balls, never tried one. Looks very healthy one. Will visit again, Enjoy blogging!

7. Rosie, on January 14th, 2008 at 2:25 am Said:

   HI Archana, Many thanks for calling by my blog

   You have a wonderful site with gorgeous recipes and pics!! I will surely be calling by from now on!

   Great looking spinach paneer koftas in gravy, something new for me to try out. Thanks for sharing this delicious looking dish

   Rosie x

8. Minti, on January 14th, 2008 at 5:14 am Said:

   Oh my! Looks so good. I always wanted to try out a paneer kofta curry - now this is on my list.

9. Menu Today, on January 14th, 2008 at 2:19 pm Said:

   Hi Archana,
   I am first time here. You have wonderful recipes in ur blog.
   Kofta with paneer and palak sounds good. Thanks for sharing.

10. Raji(rak's kitchen), on January 14th, 2008 at 2:23 pm Said:

    I am too first time here…Your recipes are really nice and this spinach-paneer koftas in makhani gravy is really looking gud!
    Thanx for the neat step by step presentation!

11. archanagk, on January 14th, 2008 at 9:08 pm Said:

    Namrata, thank you

    Mansi. haan actually i add potatoes when i dont do this moonlit kofta :). When i mix the spinach and paneer together, i add some potatoes.

    Red chillies, thanks for visiting. I take recipe requests as well. I have been getting a few via email. But plan to add a section on it online.

    Hi Richa, nice will try just the tomato gravy next time, though i am famous for always adding that something extra. Another variation i have tried is adding yogurt, but mostly to louki/doodhi kofta’s

    Barathy interesting, i am trying to get in touch with that fav chef of mine- Sanjeev Kapoor.

    Seena, not sure if anything deepfried is healthy, but yes, i fry it on high for hardly a minute i think. But still

    Thanks rosie, keep visiting.

    Minti, Let me know how it turns out when you try it. I am always looking forward to critical comments on my recipes.

    Thanks Menu Today and Raji, keep visiting.

12. prema, on January 15th, 2008 at 12:04 am Said:

    Hi Archana,
    U have a nice blog… Spinach paneer koftas in makhni gravy is new to me and sounds very interesting. looks lovely and thanks for the recipe. I have bookmarked this

13. Dhivya, on January 15th, 2008 at 4:08 am Said:

    I make something similar to this. I add boiled potato/paneer for the koftas. It tastes awesome right!. Luking at the snaps made me hungry!

14. shriya, on January 15th, 2008 at 5:42 am Said:

    Hey archana,Its a Very nice recipe. I’ve never tried spinach paneer koftas. I love the way you have detailed that recipe in easy to follow step.

15. Laavanya, on January 16th, 2008 at 12:35 am Said:

    The koftas look beautiful Archana and such a creamy makhani gravy… tempting.

16. Geeta Iyer, on January 16th, 2008 at 8:32 am Said:

    You are really innovative. This is an exciting combination for koftas. Panneer and Spinnach blend well in taste. I liked it very much. Will try it.

    Mummy

17. Archana, on January 17th, 2008 at 5:46 am Said:

    Wow yummy koftas Archana.. very nicely explained too.. shall surely try this..

18. Ashley, on January 20th, 2008 at 12:33 pm Said:

    Oh wow this looks really tasty! I’d love to try eating them. I’m not sure what gram flour is though. I’m so glad you stopped by my blog and now I’ve found yours which seems full of so many great recipes!

19. jeena, on January 21st, 2008 at 4:59 am Said:

    This recipe looks amazing paneer and spinach koft looks delicious.

20. Shella, on January 23rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm Said:

    I am sure going to try this one out. Its seems so exotic.

21. archanagk, on January 24th, 2008 at 1:53 pm Said:

    Thanks Prema, Divya, Lavanya, Mummy(my inspiration), Archana(LOL),Jeena. A little time consuming, but the end result is delicious!

    Ashley, gram flour is also called as chickpea flour. It has to fine the really fine powdered variety. You can get in any health food store or even an Indian store.

    Do let me know shella how it turned out when you do give it a try.

22. shriya, on February 5th, 2008 at 10:45 pm Said:

    Archana I’ve tried your palak paneer koftas in my husband b’day party and you know what it was a super duper hit . Everyone loved it and it’s really easy to make , tastes really very good. Love the recipe. Thanks for sharing it archana. I was supposed to post this recipe in my blog linking your blog but i couldn’t find time to take pics but I’ll do it next time.

23. bina venkatachellum, on February 6th, 2008 at 5:11 am Said:

    Hi Archana
    this is indeed a great recipe.specialy the makhani gravy. I am going to try it out my famuly will love it I’m sure.
    bina

24. archanagk, on February 6th, 2008 at 11:42 am Said:

    Thank you so much shriya! I am glad it turned out well and was a big hit. Its one awesome recipe!

25. kribha, on February 23rd, 2008 at 2:59 am Said:

    My My…. That looks sooooo good. The process looks a little tedious but I’ll have to try this out for sure. Thanks for the detailed pictures. Still on diet, so I’ll do this when I invite some friends over. Awesome recipe.

Leave a Reply