Vegetarian Paneer Koftas

Cooking time:  35 minutes, prep time: 15 minutes.

Coming from a food loving Indian family, I am a big fan of bold flavours and vibrant colours. My mother is an exceptional cook and also a vegetarian and hence I have had a elaborate introduction to vegetarian cooking and making hero vegetarian dishes. The dishes can be made with vegetables, lentils, and also using these ingredients in many different forms. Dairy is also used in abundance and one of the most loved ingredient is paneer (Cottage cheese).

Paneer is made by separating the milk curds by addition of a citric agent such as vinegar or lemon juice. The curds are then pressed to make a lovely block of fresh, non melting cheese. This is often used in curries, stuffed parantas (stuffed wheat pancakes), pilaf and many more.

For this dish, I have used paneer as one of the main ingedients. I was craving something healthy-ish and vegetarian, yet delicious and this is how this dish came into being. Although it calls for a number of ingredients, it is not at all a difficult dish to make. The recipe below is good for 2 people (I do love bigger portins though).

For this recipe (serves 2) we will need:

Paneer (cottage cheese) 200gm

Potato 1 medium sized par boiled and grated

Ginger garlic paste 2 tsp

Cumin powder 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder 1/2 tsp

Red/ green chilli 1 chopped

Lemon juice of half lemon

Fresh coriander 1/2 cup chopped

Ricotta (can be replaced by heavy cream) 2 tbsp

Plain flour 2 tbsp

Salt and pepper to taste

To make the koftas, take the paneer and crumble (if you are using packaged paneer, put it in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, this will soften the paneer). Add all the above ingredients and knead to make a smooth mix. Portion into 4 equal sized koftas.

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees ( Fan oven at 160degrees) Place the koftas on a lined baking tray with some distance between them as they will spread a bit. Always a good idea to roast some onions on the side as they work beautifully with the dish. Bake them for 35 - 40 minutes.

You can serve these with flatbreads and cutneys or as I did, with rice and some sauce on the side.

Enjoy!