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Hey everybody.
The cooking Cubs wrecked the kitchen again, so here's something new from and  kuraiko

Malai Kofta, a classic Northern Indian dish that comes in dozens of varieties.
Tasty fried vegetable balls with Paneer and a creamy, aromatic sauce, made from tomatoes, Cashews, cream and milk.
A dish that works very well with some fresh Naan and Basmati rice.
The spiced rice was the only thing we actually used a recipe for and sadly said recipe was crap… and the rice at the end was goop.
So we won't mention the recipe here.
Better to use the classic simmering method or a rice cooker.
Or if you like, take the recipe for the Matar Pulao here (https://www.furaffinity.net/view/26541363/) and just omit the peas. Or don't ;)

Cooking the dish with the Kofta balls, the sauce, Naan and rice can be a bit tricky, so it's better to cook it with 2 people.
Alternatively, you can cook it over the course of two days and keep the kofta in the fridge.
If you cook it on one day, to keep the chaos down to a minimum, start with the Paneer cheese, as it will take the most time.
Then prepare the dough for the Naan, because that is also a little time consuming.
After that, start the sauce and then the kofta, later the rice.
Frying the vegetable balls and baking the Naan can be done in parallel or at least directly one behind the other.

Let's cook! :)

Recipe:
(serves 4-5)

Paneer:

2,5-3L fresh whole milk
3 tbsp white vinegar (e.g. mild white balsamic vinegar)

Bring the milk to a boil in a large enough pot, remove it from the heat and stir in 3 tbsp of vinegar.
The milk should start to curdle immediately, if not add another spoonful of vinegar.
Let it rest for about 10-15 minutes.
Strain through a cheese cloth, muslin or a clean cotton kitchen cloth. Capture the whey to use it in other dishes or for drinking or discard it. You don't need to press it in a form, as it will be crumbled again for the kofta. Just pressing out the whey with your hands after it's cooled down a bit and letting it rest for a few hours should do the trick.
It will result in about 300-350g of Paneer.
For the veggie balls you'll need about 200g. The rest can be frozen and used another time.


Naan:

~270g flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cube (10-11g) fresh yeast
1 pinch of baking powder
60ml lukewarm water
120g Greek yoghurt
3 tbsp soft Ghee/clarified butter or butter for the dough (and some more for brushing the Naan)
Fresh coriander
Black cumin seeds, sesame, chopped garlic

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in luke warm water and let it stand for a couple of minutes to activate the yest.
Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl, make a small indention and add the Ghee, yoghurt and yeast-sugar-water mix.
Knead into a soft, non-sticking dough on a floured surface with your hands, food processor or hand mixer with dough hooks.
If necessary, add a bit more flour if it's too soft or more water if it gets to hard.
Brush with a little Ghee or butter, cover it with a moist kitchen towel and let it rise for about 2-3 hours.
Take it out of the ball and knead it on a floured surface, then cut into small triangles.
As the Naan was a little to thick last time, I made smaller ones by diving the dough into 12 pieces instead of 6.
Cover them again and let them rise for another 30-45 minutes.
One half of the dough was used directly, the other half were kept in the fridge in an airtight container until the next day. Naan tastes best if it's freshly baked.
Heat up a large enough pan to high heat, add a little oil.
Roll out a piece of dough thinly with a rolling pin a floured surface. Sprinkle with coriander, black cumin, sesame and garlic after your taste and press it into the dough carefully.
Transfer into your pan and bake it shortly until the bottom side gets browned and some bubbles form at the surface.
Flip it with a spatula and bake it from the other side.
It should brown irregularly and get a few charred spots.
Take it out of the pan, brush it with butter or Ghee, then bake the next one.
Cover the bread with aluminum foil until all are baked to keep them warm


Sauce:

1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 generous handful of unroasted, unsalted Cashews
1 piece of fresh ginger (~2-3cm)
200ml cream
3 tbsp Greek yoghurt
Whole milk
1-2 bay leafs
1 cinnamon stick
Salt
~1tsp ground cumin seeds, 1tsp ground coriander seeds, 1tsp turmeric powder, 1tsp good quality Garam Masala (we used the one from Ingo Holland)
Food processor or handheld blender
Ghee, clarified butter or vegetable oil and butter

Peel onion, garlic and ginger and dice them.
Carefully roast the Cashews in a small pan without any fats, then let them cool down again.
Grind them finely in a food processor and set aside for now.
In a large enough pan heat up some Ghee then carefully fry the onion, then garlic and ginger until they get slightly golden brown. Make sure not to burn the garlic.
Add the chopped tomatoes and continue to fry for a couple more minutes.
Take the mixture and transfer it into a food processor together with the ground Cashews and work them into a smooth, thick sauce. Add some liquid if it gets a little too thick.
Alternatively, you can mix everything with a handheld blender.
Set aside for now.
Wipe out the pan, add some more Ghee or oil and butter and bring to medium heat.
Add the cinnamon stick and bay leaf, sprinkle in the spices and carefully fry for a little bit. Make sure not to burn the spices.
Now add the pureed sauce to the pan again, then pour in the cream and then mix in about 3 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt.
From now on the sauce should not be allowed to boil again, just let it simmer very gently until serving or the cream could curdle.
If the sauce gets too thick during cooking time, add some more cream or whole milk (if you want to make it a little less fatty).
Remove cinnamon sticks and bay leaf before serving.


Kofta:

200g Paneer
500g predominantly waxy potatoes
2 carrots
2 cups (or 1 coffee mug) or peas, fresh or frozen
Salt
~1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1tsp good quality Garam Masala (we used the one from Ingo Holland)
Corn starch
Vegetable oil for frying (one that can take a bit of heat)

Peel potatoes and carrots, cut into chunks and cook until they are soft. Cook the peas as well.
Crumble the Paneer cheese.
Mash the potatoes and carrots while they are still warm, then add the cooked peas.
Season with salt, cumin, coriander seed, turmeric powder and Garam Masala.
Mix in the crumbled paneer.
Use your hands to form golf ball-sized balls from the mixture, roll in corn starch and put on a tablet, covered in starch until frying. We made about 22 balls from our mix.
Heat a generous amount of oil in a small pot and deep-fry the Kofta until they are golden brown.
Don't put to many into the oil the once, so the temperature doesn't drop and balls get too fatty.
Put them on a paper towel to get rid of the excess fat and use piping hot.
Kofta that don't get used on the same day should be kept "raw" (which they are not as the ingredients are cooked) in the fridge and then deep-fried freshly on the next day.
They taste much better freshly fried.

Pour some sauce into a bowl, add the hot Kofta and serve with freshly baked Naan and Basmati rice, for everybody at the table to share.