Vegetarian Malai Kofta is a potato based dish that has it’s own rich yellow cream served on top of rice. This is personally one of my favorite foods of all time, and it is easily adjustable for all palettes to enjoy. This will be by far the most complicated Indian food I will make on this blog, there are a lot of steps and a lot of ingredients to get. So let’s get started, you will need these ingredients for the Kofta (the “meat” of the dish):

• 5 gold potatoes
• 1 pound of firm tofu (Paneer is the traditional tofu used)
• 1/2 cup of corn starch
• 2 tbsp of minced cilantro
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 3/4 tsp salt (First time seeing a set measurement for salt in a dish)
• 1 cup of frozen green peas
• Oil for frying
  
  Now, we still need ingredients for the Malai (the “Cream” of the dish):
  
• 1 roughly chopped yellow onion
• 32 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup of cashews
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 inch of finely chopped ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp of garam masala
• 1 tsp of ground tumeric
• 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper (adjust if sensitive to spice)
• 1 tsp of salt
• 15 oz can of coconut milk
• 1 tbsp of Kasoori Methi (Also called dried fenugreek leaves)
  (Since I had no idea what this was, so I found an article that tells you what it is)
• Cilantro for garnish (Can omit if preferred without)

Whenever I ate this meal, I never thought it required so many ingredients and effort, the place where I got the recipe said it was a 15 minute prep time, but I can’t imagine it being that short. Maybe if I made this a few more dozen times and didn’t need to check the instructions every 30 seconds, then maybe it could be prepped in 15 minutes. This took me about double the time for prep than predicted, and that doesn’t even including cooking, which takes at least an hour. So, let’s see how many steps it takes to finish this:

• Peel and cut potatoes in half then place in a pot to boil over high heat
• Once boiling, turn heat down to medium and cover with a lid, cook until they are soft (Will take about 12 minutes). Drain water and mash’em up
• For the sauce, get a large pot and add the onion, the whole can of tomatoes, cashews, garlic, ginger, garam masala, turmeric, cayenne pepper, Kasoori Methi, and salt. Set the pot to simmer while covered for 15 minutes, stir occasionally
• Move the tomato and onion mixture to a blender and blend until it is smooth
  (Let the hot air escape the blender while blending)
• Put the smooth sauce back into the pot and add the coconut milk, mix it all together, then set it aside while covered until the Kofta is ready
• Mash the tofu with your hands (It isn’t too messy, but it feels weird) until it is creamy and there are no chunks left.
  (You can also blend it if you want)
• Add the mashed potatoes and tofu together in a big mixing bowl and add corn starch, cilantro, lemon juice, garam masala, and salt. Mix together until you can form it into little balls. The texture of the mixture should be able to stick to your hands slightly without falling apart
  (If the mixture keeps falling apart or is too wet, add more corn starch)
• Mix in the frozen peas and craft them into little balls or sausage-like shapes
• Heat up about 1.5 inches of oil until it reaches 350 degree Fahrenheit and then fry the Kofta until golden brown
• Preheat the oven to 425 and spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray (or line it with parchment paper)
• Put the Kofta in the oven on the baking sheet (make sure they aren’t touching), brush the tops of the Kofta with butter and flip after 15 minutes and butter them lightly again. Let bake for 25 more minutes (40 minutes total)
• The Kofta should be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and it is ok if they lost their shape a little.
• Get some white rice ready and put the Kofta on top of it. Finally top it with some Malai. Enjoy with some naan bread, and congratulate yourself on doing a complex dish, you earned it!

Alright, we did it! This dish was really out of my comfort zone and was daunting. But, so far it has been my favorite dish that I’ve made for these blogs. This creamy curry like dish was a delight to make and eat, it was the most rewarding cook I’ve done in a while. The Kofta had a very similar texture to the potato kebab that I made earlier in my blogs (you should check it out if you have time and have enjoyed what you’ve read), but these tasted a lot better. I’m not sure if it is because I have more experience in frying and making these foods, or if the cream is to be given all the credit. The cream with potatoes and rice matched so well together, I never get tired of eating this dish. For my next blog, we will be taking a break from difficult dishes and bringing it back down to a easy dish that can feed a lot of people: Chicken Curry on Rice. See you next time!