Malai Kofta - Calabash-balls in Tomato Gravy

An impressive, super-tasty dish with dumpling-like balls in a delicious, creamy tomato-sauce.

How to make Malai Kofta

First of all you need to prepare paneer, which can be done according to this recipe. We will use the fresh paneer and don’t need to press its water out. Let it cool down a little bit while you start other preparations.

Wash the tomatoes and put them as they are into a blender, making puree out of them. Peel the ginger and cut it into tiny pieces. Wash and then peel the calabash, which you will find in Indian stores as ‘Lauki’ or ‘Ghiya’. Cut off a small piece of both sides and take a grater to grate it into small stripes. The vegetable may leave some water, similar to a cucumber, while you grate it.

Once grated, take the chickpea flour and mix it into the bottle gourd. The flour should be very well mixed so that there are no clots left. Start forming balls from the mixture just as you would form a snow ball, a potato dumpling or something similar, by rolling it in between your hands. You then take the paneer and roll the same amount of balls from the paneer, too. It is up to you which size of Kofta you would like to prepare – just roll the balls according to that.

When all balls are ready, take a calabash ball and press it a little bit flat. Hold it in one hand which you now curve, pressing with the thumb of the other hand, so that you have a small bowl. Place one of the paneer balls into the bowl and close the bottle gourd mixture around the paneer, thus stuffing this ball with the fresh cheese. Repeat the same with the rest of the balls.

The next step is to heat up oil for deep-frying in a pot or wok. When it is hot, place the balls into it and let them get done. You will need to softly turn them after a bit so that they get evenly fried from all sides. When they are lightly golden, after approximately two minutes, they are ready and you can take them out. Keep them in a bowl with a lid or plate on top so that they don’t get cold.

Heat up the olive oil in a deep pan or a wok. Once it is hot, add cumin, garam masala, coriander, turmeric and your fresh ginger and stir so that the spices don’t burn. Once they are nicely roasted, add the puree and let it get hot. Add the cream and stir to let it get hot as well. In the very end you can put the fried balls into the pot and switch off the stove.

Serve while still hot – and you will hear the praise of your guests!

Enjoy your meal!