This Restaurant-Style Vegan Malai Kofta recipe is the ultimate Indian comfort food. Picture crispy potato and chickpea dumplings in a creamy, spiced Indian gravy that will make your taste-buds sing!

Malai Kofta! If you’re a fan of Indian cuisine and this isn’t one of your top 5 Indian dishes you probably just have not tried it yet.

WHAT IS MALAI KOFTA?

Malai Kofta is a special occasion dish that has its origins in northern India. Kofta are meatballs, and there are variations of them – some from the Balkans and the Middle East, others coming from South Asia. In India, they are typically vegetarian for malai kofta, made with potatoes and paneer cheese. Malai simply means cream. So creamy meatballs.

In this recipe, we make easy swaps for all non-vegan ingredients using potatoes and chickpeas as a base for the “meatballs”  or “vegan kofta”. The result is the most delicious, richest tasting, better-than-restaurant style vegan malai kofta.

Ingredients

veggie balls

• 500 g (17.6 oz) soft-boiled potatoes
• 60 g (2.1 oz) carrots
• 80 g (2.8 oz) peas from the can
• 50 g (1.7 oz) chickpeas from the can
• 30 g (1 oz) cashew nuts
• 10 g (0.35 oz) cornstarch
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp salt

plant-based cream sauce

• 2 onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 40 g (1.4 oz) fresh ginger (weighed with peel)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp agave syrup
• 750 ml (3 cups) sieved tomatoes
• 250 ml (1 cup) plant-based cream
• 25 g (0.9 oz) cashew nuts
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Indian rice

• 250 g (8.8 oz) basmati rice
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp of caraway seeds
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp salt

toppings

• 5 g (0.17 oz) fresh cilantro
• 1 lemon
• 50 g (1.7 oz) cashew nuts