Aloo kofta and Paneer parantha – two recipes in one and the best possible combination!
Festivals are an integral part of our life, isn’t it? Be it any country, region or religion; we all eagerly wait for our respective festivals.I remember during our school days the first thing we used to look into the New Year calendar is the “Durga puja” dates and a lot of our planning used to revolve around it. With Dusshera, the array of festivals start in India and it being a unique country with unity in diversity, there are innumerable number of festivals celebrated regionally.
Among all, Diwali is the only festival which is celebrated across the country from north to south. It is the time of reunion in the family with all members coming together to spend a family time and take a break from the routine job.
Yes, festivals are incomplete without family and friends. We realize this more as we are staying miles away from our family and no matter how strongly we desire, sometimes it happens to be practically impossible to take this much awaited break and be a part of the family reunion. The result is: you have to live this time alone seeing other families having fun and all your friends gone for vacation.
This is what exactly happened to us on this year’s Diwali. We had to spend the Diwali night all alone! But nevertheless, we celebrated it in our own way. My husband decorated the house with many lights and diyas. Our home was looking good but still something was missing and that something was the warmth of our loved ones. The splutter of laughter on silly jokes, competition with the crackers and gossiping till very late night – all these bits and pieces make for a successful celebration.
With the promise that our next Diwali will be celebrated with our family, here I am sharing our this year’s Diwali menu which was a pure vegetarian delight – Aloo Kofta curry [potato balls in spicy sauce] which I served with Paneer Paratha [Indian flat-bread stuffed with cottage cheese].
Aloo Kofta with Paneer Paratha
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Priyanka
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 2 Servings
Ingredients
For Koftas
- Potatoes – 4, boiled
- Bread slices – 2
- Onion – 1, medium
- Coriander leaves – 1 or 2 bunches
- Salt to taste
- Garam masala – ½ tsp
- Red chili powder – 1 tsp
- Coriander powder – ¼ tsp
- Cumin powder – ¼ tsp
- Oil to deep fry
For the Sauce
- Onion – 2
- Tomato – 3
- Garlic cloves – 8
- Dried red chili – 5
- Cloves – 2
- Cardamom – 2
- Cinnamon – 1 inch
- Turmeric a pinch
- Salt to taste
- Oil – 2 tbsp
- Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
For paratha
- Wholewheat flour – 2 cups
- Oil – 2 tsp
- Salt to taste
For the filling
- Crumbled cottage cheese/paneer – 2 cups
- Chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
- Green chili – 1 or 2, sliced
Instructions
How to make koftas
- Peal the skin of the boiled potatoes and mash it.
- Dip the bread slices in water for few seconds and squeeze it thoroughly.
- Mix both mashed potatoes and bread along with all powdered spices and salt. Knead to get a dough.
- Make small balls of size 1 inch diameter out of it and deep fry in oil.
- Keep the koftas aside.
How to make the sauce
- Grind all the above said ingredients except oil and cumin seeds in a blender and make a smooth paste.
- Heat oil in a skillet and add cumin seeds. Let them splutter for a minute.
- When it turns golden brown, add the ground spice paste and stir until the oil separates and the raw smell goes. Add some hot water to make a thick sauce.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and add koftas. Serve hot with paneer paratha.
How to make Paratha
- Take the flour in a large bowl and mix it with salt.
- Add the oil and mix with fingers so that it forms into small crumbs.
- Add as much water as required to bind into a soft dough. Add little water at a time so that there is no excess water.
- Knead it for 5 to 10 minutes until it becomes smooth. Set aside for around 15 minutes covered with a cling wrap.
- Now get to the filling. I made fresh cottage cheese at home by curdling the milk with lemon juice and then squeezing out all the water from the “Chenna”.
- You can use store bought paneer but make sure to bring it to room temperature before crumbling it. You would need around 2 cups of crumbled cottage cheese.
- Add chopped coriander and green chili and mix until combined.
- Now take a small ball of dough and place it on a lightly floured surface. Then flatten it into a small disc.
- Using a rolling pin, roll it out into a small circle, little bigger than your palm.
- Place some stuffing in the center and bring the edges of the dough over the filling and pinch to seal it on top.
- Again press it with your palm to flatten it out slightly. Dust it very lightly with flour and gently roll it out to form a circle as per your desired thickness.
- Heat a skillet/tawa and place the paratha on it. Cook it for few seconds. Drizzle some oil or ghee [clarified butter] around.
- Flip it to other side after few minutes after you see brown spots on its surface. You can drizzle some more oil for the other side but that’s optional.
- Repeat likewise for all the parathas and serve hot with the aloo kofta curry.
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