Cottage Cheese & Spinach Kofta Curry

Cottage Cheese & Spinach Kofta Curry is an is an exotic Indian gravy dish you will want more time and again

I bought a small bottle of gourd, unfortunately, it turned out very hard and had big seeds inside. Didn’t want to throw it away and wanted to use it in some way or another.
So just thought of combining these two to give it an extra flavor with curdled milk and made cottage cheese at home. Combined it all and the end result was….. delicious dinner….polished off the bowl.

Ingredients for Koftas:

• Chopped spinach- 2 cups
• Grated bottle gourd- ½ cup
• Cottage cheese crumbled- 1 cup
• Grated ginger – 1 Tsp
• Chopped onion- ¼ cup
• Garam Masala powder- ½ Tsp
• Coriander powder- 1 Tsp
• Amchur (dry mango) powder- 1 tbsp
• Chopped green chili- 2 tbsp
• Red chili powder- ½ Tsp
• Chopped dry fruits- enough for filling
• Butter or cream- for filling
• Besan/gram flour- ¼ cup
• Salt to taste
• Oil- enough for deep frying

Ingredients for curry:

• Onion paste- ½ cup
• Ginger paste- 1 Tsp
• Fresh pureed tomato- 1/4th cup
• Cashew – 1 tbsp
• Poppyseed- 1 Tsp
• Cumin powder- 1 Tsp
• Coriander powder- 1 Tsp
• Turmeric powder- 1 Tsp
• Kashmiri chili powder- 1 Tsp
• Garam masala powder- ½ Tsp
• Cumin seeds- ½ Tsp
• Bay leaf- 2
• Green cardamom- 3, lightly beaten to open mouth
• Cinnamon stick- 1
• Cloves – 2-4
• Green chili-2 or more
• Dry red chili-1
• Oil for cooking
• Clarified butter- 1 tbsp
• Sugar- ½ Tsp
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Soak cashew and poppy seeds in water for 15 mins.
2. Strain and make a paste out of it.
3. Squeeze the grated bottle guard to discard moisture completely.
4. If you have prepared cottage cheese at home by curdling milk, they also strain it in muslin and squeeze it completely to get dry cheese.
5. In a bowl put the chopped spinach, cottage cheese, and grated bottle guard.
6. Add everything except dry fruits and oil.
7. Now mix everything together to make a soft dough.
8. Make equal lemon-sized balls out of the dough.
9. Take one ball on your palm and make a well in the middle with your finger.
10. Fill the hole with dry fruits and a butter cube or cream in it.
11. Close the mouth and reshape it like a small ball.
12. Repeat and make such balls out of the dough.
13. In a deep wok add enough oil for deep frying the koftas in batches of 3-4.
14. Deep fry in medium flame till brown.
15. Do not fry in high flame otherwise, the koftas will be browned from the outside, and inside it will remain undercooked.
16. Check the remaining oil in the wok.
17. If it is more than 3 tbsp and the oil is not burnt, then do not add any more.
18. Cook the curry in the same oil.
19. Add cumin seed to hot oil and let it start splattering.
20. Add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and bay leaf one by one.
21. Stir till the oil is aromatic.
22. Add onion paste and fry till browned.
23. Add all dry masalas, cumin powder, coriander powder, chili powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, ginger paste, sugar, and salt.
24. Sprinkle little water and stir fry the masalas for 1 min.
25. Add cashew paste and poppy seed paste together and stir continuously to fry them.
26. Add pureed tomato and stir till oil is separated and visible on the sides.
27. When oil separates, add ghee, stir and pour 1½ glass of water (for cooking 8-10 koftas).
28. If more add proportionately.
29. Cover and cook the curry on a medium flame for 5-7 mins.
30. Add the koftas and cook covered for 2 mins only then uncover otherwise the koftas will be mashed.
31. Otherwise, cook the koftas and curry separately in advance.
32. Heat both just before serving.
33. Arrange the koftas in a serving bowl and pour the curry over it.
34. Garnish with fresh cream and coriander leaves.
35. Best with Naan, Rotis, Parathas, or Pulao.

Prepared, tried, and tested by Reena