I have always wondered what is really so special in Non vegetrian dishes. Though I can never imagine myself tasting them, I have always wanted to turn them into a vegan or vegetarian dish. So when Srivalli chose 'Meatless dishes' as one of the theme for Blogging Marathon 31, I chose it as my theme for Week # 3.
In the announcement she had mentioned about this Nargisi Kofta and a few of my fellow Marathoners have already posted their versions. I had bookmarked this recipe and finally wanted to make and post for this BM.
While I was preparing this MIL was really curious about what has happening in the kitchen. I told her my theme and what I was going to do. That increased her curiosity and was wondering how I will bring out the 'egg effect'. And when she saw the result, I could tell that she was awestruck!
And when it came to dinner time, I almost fooled hubby into thinking that I made egg curry. He never believed that I would cook eggs and not even after seeing the 'eggs' did he trust me to come up with an eggy recipe! And only when he was going to take a bite, my smile told him that he was right all along. And not to mention that it was praised for its taste and texture and I have requests to make it again very soon!
So here comes the dish that won me heaps of praise for this week's theme of Meatless dishes. Nargisi Kofta is actually a Mughlai dish and obviously is a very rich one. I have made an egg free version with paneer and potatoes.
This dish is totally worth every minute you spend in the kitchen preparing it....
I used:
For the koftas:
Homemade paneer - 1/2 cup
Boiled potatoes- 2,peeled
Bread slices -2
Cashews and raisins - a few for stuffing
Saffron strands a few + a pinch of turmeric- soaked in a tablespoon of warm milk
Green chilli paste- 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
For the gravy:
Saute with a little oil and rind to a smooth paste
Onion-1,large, chopped
Tomato-2,large,chopped
Poppy seeds- 1 tablespoon
Cashews- 5 numbers
Ginger- 1" piece
Garlic-5 pieces
Other ingredients for gravy
Cumin seeds- 1 teaspoon
Kashmiri red chilli powder- 1 teaspoon
Garam masala- 1 teaspoon
Cream -2 tablespoons + extra to garnish
Cashews to garnish
Ghee and Oil- 1 tablespoon each
Kasuri methi -1 teaspoon, crushed lightly between the palm
Milk-1 cup
Salt to taste
For the koftas:
- Mash the potatoes without lumps. Similarly crumble the paneer and knead to get a smooth texture.
- To one portion of the paneer, add the saffron+ milk,a pinch of salt and mix well to get the 'yolk'
- To the remaining paneer add the potato, crumbled bread, salt[bread already has salt,check before adding], green chilli paste and knead well.
- Take a portion of the yellow paneer and flatten it a bit.Place some nuts and raisins in the centre and cover it up.
- Take a lump of the potato mixture and flatten it. Place the yellow mixture in the centre and cover it with the potato mixture and shape into cylinders. Smoothen any cracks and keep aside.Repeat it for the remaining mixture.
- Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the koftas till golden brown.[I added a little white rawa/ suji to stiffen the potato mixture]. Keep aside.
For the gravy:
- Heat ghee and oil together and put in cumin seeds.
- When it crackles, add the ground paste and saute for a couple of minutes or till the oil surfaces. Add a little water in between if the mixture dries up
- Add the milk and simmer. Let it thicken a bit. It is too thick, add water.
- Put in salt and mix well.
- Add the cream and kasuri methi.
- Remove from heat and keep aside
To serve:
Just before serving, gently heat the gravy.Drop in the koftas and serve garnished with cream and some cashews around it.
Note:
- You can use oil / ghee for the ghee. A combo of oil and ghee is really tasty.
- Using cream is optional. But it does make the dish creamy and rich like it ought to be....
- I used 2 slices of bread in the kofta. I used it as such, did not trim the edges.
Also take a look at the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM #31
Sending this to Minnie's Gala Dinner Extravaganza....
Bon Appetit...
Labels: Blogging Marathon, Paneer, Potato, Rotisides, Saffron, Whoz on my side
