This cottage cheese dumpling with creamy spinach gravy is very delicious. My version of this curry is healthier with NO added color and not fried Koftas. The green palak curry is full of flavors and the paneer koftas are so soft that it just melts in the mouth. These kofta are not fried (made in appe pan or paniyaram pan or non-stick pan) which calls for few drops of oil. Yes, these are not fried and I promise you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Ingredients – For Paneer Kofta (makes 12 balls)
- 150 grams – Fresh Paneer, finely grated
- 2 – Potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
- 15-20 piece – Raisin
- 15 piece – Cashewnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon – Roasted Gram Flour (Chickpea Flour)
- 1 teaspoon – Jeera powder (Cumin powder)
- 1 teaspoon – Dhaana Powder(Coriander powder)
- Pinch of Turmeric
- ½ teaspoon – Chaat Masala
- 1 teaspoon – Green chilies, finely chopped (Optional) or red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon – Black pepper powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon – Lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon – Oil
Ingredients – For Curry
- 3 (or more) cups – Spinach Puree. Here is the recipe for fresh spinach puree
- 1 – onion, roughly chopped
- 2 – tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 – Green chili, chopped (Optional)
- 5 cloves – Garlic
- 1 inch – Ginger, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon – Cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon – Garam Masala
- 1 tablespoon – Cumin-Coriander Powder
- 1 tablespoon – Roasted Gram Flour (Chickpea Flour) OR 8 Cashewnuts, soaked
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon oil
- Water or boiled spinach water, if required to adjust the consistency of curry
- 1 tablespoon – Grated Paneer, for garnish
Method
Step 1
For Koftas: In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients mentioned under Kofta except oil. Mix it well till mixture become smooth like dough. Make small balls (or koftas) from this mixture. Insert raisins and cashew pieces at the centre of each balls
Step 2
Heat the appe pan and place kofta balls in the pan. A just a drop of oil over each koftas and cook them on all sides till golden brown & crisp. This should take around 2 mins on each side
Step 3
For Curry: In a pan, add onion, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, gram flour and green chilles. (DO NOT add oil, tomatoes will leave water and hence it will not stick at bottom). Cook it on medium flame until tomatoes become soft and pulpy.
Step 4
Switch off the flame and let the onion-tomato mix cool down. Blend this mix in Vitamix or any blender until smooth paste
Step 5
Heat oil in the same pan, add cumin seeds and let it roast for a few seconds. Then add the prepared onion-tomato paste, cumin-coriander powder and salt and cook until paste leaves oil on edges of the pan. This will take around 3-5 mins
Step 6
Now add spinach puree to the paste and mix it well to make smooth gravy. Add garam masala and adjust the consistency of curry by adding water or cream. Simmer this green palak gravy for around 10 mins and keep stirring occasionally.
Step 7
Add the kofta balls right towards the end just before serving them. Alternatively, plate paneer kofta in a serving dish and pour the spinach curry on the top of koftas.
Step 8
Garnish this curry with grated fresh paneer for extra creaminess. Serve this hot palak paneer kofta curry with roti, naan, parathas, bread or rice.
Notes
- Vegan Substitution: You can use grated extra firm tofu instead of paneer. You can also make Kofta using only potatoes or using bottle gourd or your choice of grated creamy vegetable
- You can make this dish without oil by using a non-stick pan to cook the curry
- If you plan to serve the curry later; then store the koftas separately and add them to hot curry just before serving. This way kofta will hold its form and taste better. If you add kofta and simmer it longer in the curry then this may result in breaking them.
- Make this dish even creamier and richer by adding cream and grated paneer and simmer it for another 5 mins.