The Mughal Gift To The Indian Cuisine: Malai Kofta

Have you ever had anything so confusing as to if it’s a vegetarian dish or a non-vegetarian dish? Malai Kofta is the meatball saviour of all vegetarians and is good enough to be preferred by some non-vegetarians as well. It is essentially a north Indian with Mughal origins or roots stemming out from its previous reiterations such as the Nargis Kofta.

What is Malai Kofta?

Malai Kofta

It is basically and authentically balls made of various vegetables like potatoes, raw bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes various other root vegetables along with greens such as chillies, peas, coriander etc married with a perfect combination of spices that elevates it taste to this amazingly delicious and rich tasting koftas. Often time paneer or cottage cheese is used as stuffing along with kismis, kajus, pistas, almonds etc. to make it more sweet tasting if the traditional savor y spicy one is not preferred. Then such dumplings or balls are cooked in gravy made of cream or yogurt accompanied with aromatic spices which make it even more melt in your mouth and want cannot just get enough of it.

Origins

It can be said to be traditionally of Indian origins can be traced to the Mughals, therefore it is popular in the Indian subcontinent along with Central Asian cuisine, Balkan and south Caucasian cuisines and the middle east as well but they call it by various other names such as falafel or vegetarian variants of the kebabs. With the advent of the popularity of veganism and vegan food variants, the mix vegetable version of this delicacy is the perfect solution to the ones craving for meatballs and still wants to continue their diet or veganism.

The malai kofta in all its glory can be eaten in its fried forms as appetizers or it can be further enhance by cooking it in a rich creamy curry form with cream, yogurt and spices which elevate its texture from crunchy to soft and soft and spongy perfect to be eaten with Indian bread such as naan or rotis or even simply with steamed rice. Any person getting a taste of these delicacies cannot shed its taste out of their conscious and would keep coming back for it. The malai kofta recipe is a unique amalgamation of the perfect spices and vegetables along with cottage cheese which pleases the taste buds of all irrespective of their age and culture and is loved by people in the Indian subcontinent as well as even some from foreign countries who are aware of this delicacy. The traditional Indian variant of this has not gained popularity in the international sect and still remains highly underrated till date