A simple recipe for healthy paneer koftas simmered in a palak or spinach curry!
Ingredients
For the Koftas
- ▢200 grams of Paneer crumbled
- ▢1 teaspoon Green Chilies finely chopped
- ▢1 tablespoon Coriander finely chopped and fresh
- ▢½ teaspoon Red Chili Powder
- ▢1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
- ▢½ teaspoon garam masala
- ▢2 tablespoons Oats Instant (powdered)
- ▢Salt to taste
- ▢1 tablespoon Olive Oil
For the Curry
- ▢1 ½ tablespoon Olive Oil
- ▢2-3 Onions roughly chopped
- ▢4 – 5 Green Chilies
- ▢1 ½ inch Ginger piece of
- ▢12 cloves Garlic
- ▢7 – 8 Cashew nuts
- ▢3 Tomatoes medium-sized, roughly chopped
- ▢250 g Spinach
- ▢1-inch Cinnamon piece
- ▢4 Cloves
- ▢4 Cardamom pods
- ▢1 Bay leaf
- ▢1 teaspoon garam masala
- ▢Salt to taste
- ▢¼ – ½ Cup Water
- ▢Ice Cubes
For Tempering
- ▢1 tablespoon Ghee or Butter
- ▢¼ teaspoon Asafoetida or Hing
- ▢1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- ▢3 Cloves Garlic smashed
- ▢2 Chilies whole Dry Red
Instructions
- Mix together all the ingredients mentioned under koftas except oil really well. The mixture should almost become smooth. Form the mixture into small balls. You should get 13-15 balls.
- Heat the pan and brush it with oil. Place kofta balls in the pan and cook them on all sides till golden brown. This should take 2-3 minutes on each side.
- For the curry, start by adding onions, bay leaf, green chillies, ginger, garlic and cashews along with a cup and a half of water to a pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer for ten minutes till the onions are cooked. Once cool, strain the water but don’t throw it away. Remove the bay leaf and grind the mixture to a paste with a tablespoon or so of the reserved water.
- In another pot, bring water to a boil and add the spinach. Immediately switch off the flame, and cover the pot. Let this sit for 2 minutes. In the meantime, prepare a pot with water and ice cubes in it. Strain the spinach leaves and dump them in the ice water. The leaves will immediately get a bright green colour. Let them sit for half a minute, strain, and grind the spinach to a fine paste.
- In a pan, heat oil and add cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Add the onion paste and cook for 3-4 minutes. Please note that we don’t want to brown the paste.
- Add tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes almost start breaking down. Stir in garam masala, salt, spinach paste and some of the reserved water. Bring this to a boil and then let it simmer for 5 minutes. You can add more water depending on how thick or thin you like your gravy.
- Add the kofta balls right towards the end and switch off the flame. Boiling the koftas may result in them breaking down.
- To temper the curry, heat ghee or butter in a small pan and add cumin seeds. Once the seeds start to splutter, add asafoetida, smashed garlic and whole red chillies. Switch off the flame and pour this on top of the curry.
- Serve hot with parathas or rice.
