I saw the recipe for this north indian dish in one of my magazine subscriptions and was intrigued as I’d never seen or heard of this dish before. It’s a delicious dish that is well worth the effort to make.

This is essentially crispy potato dumplings filled with spiced paneer cheese, on a mild curry sauce.

I’ve amended the recipe to make it healthier by cooking the kofte in an airfryer, which turned out really well. I made these as a starter when we had some friends over, but this would be a great main course or part of a bigger meal.

BBC Good Food

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 800g potato, peeled
• 5 tbsp plain flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 100g fine breadcrumbs
• frylight

For the filling

• 2 heaped tbsp grated paneer cheese
• 5 cashew nuts, chopped
• 1 tbsp raisins
• 2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
• ¼ tsp sugar
• 1 tsp each ground coriander, cumin and chilli powder
• ½ tsp cardamom powder
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee

For the gravy

• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• large piece ginger, grated
• 2 tsp poppy seeds, crushed to a powder
• 1 tbsp peanut or cashew nuts
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 large tomatoes, puréed
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp each garam masala, ground coriander, cumin and sugar

Instructions

1. Boil the potatoes until tender, then drain, return to the pan and put over a low heat to steam dry for a few mins. Mash with some seasoning and cool.
2. Mix all the filling ingredients together. Make 12 balls of potato. Take one, press your finger into it to make a little hole, then place a little of the filling mixture into the centre. Pinch the potato back over to seal and shape into a round. Repeat with remaining potato balls and filling. Roll each kofta in flour, dip in the beaten egg, then roll in the breadcrumbs. Spray generously all over with frylight and place in an airfryer for approx. 15 mins until browned and crispy.
3. For the gravy, blend together the onions, garlic, ginger, poppy seeds and nuts in a food processor to a purée. Heat the oil, then fry the onion purée until just turning brown. Add the puréed tomatoes, spices and sugar. The gravy should be quite thick, but if you want to thin it down a bit, add a little water.
4. When the gravy comes to a boil, add the koftas. Heat through and serve with a drizzle of single cream and some flaked almonds scattered on top.