Healthy Palak Paneer Kofta Curry

Simple recipe for healthy paneer koftas simmered in a palak or spinach curry plus a tip to get restaurant style green colour without food colouring.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Servings Portions

Calories 380kcal

Author Richa

Ingredients

For the Koftas

200 grams 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 paniyaram or appe 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, bayleaf, green chilies, 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 bayleaf and grind the mixture to a paste with a tablespoon or so of 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 meanwhile, 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 color. 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 chilies. Switch off the flame and pour this on top of the curry.
Serve hot with parathas or rice.

Video

Notes

It's important to clean spinach by washing it in running water. There's a lot of dirt that gets collected near the roots, so it's important to wash it away.
The koftas will remain nice and firm if you don't boil them too much. If you are keeping the curry to serve later, store the koftas separately and add them just before serving.
There is no chili powder added to the curry so that it can retain the green colour. Adjust the spice levels to your liking while adding green chilies in the onion paste.

Nutrition