Indian · Authentic-ish Indian
Malai Kofta
315 kcal a serving, against 653 for the traditional version. That is 338 kcal off, or 52%, with 19.9g of protein. Serves 4. 45 minutes.
What the traditional version is
Soft balls of mashed potato and grated paneer, deep-fried in vegetable oil until golden and crisp. They sit in a violently rich gravy made from pureed onions, butter, blended cashew nuts and a massive pour of double cream.
What changed, and what each change costs
Deep-frying the dumplings in a vat of oil for a quick brush of oil and a hot oven
Fried potato and cheese act like a sponge in hot oil, soaking up massive amounts of fat before they even touch the sauce. Roasting them on a flat tray gets you a decent crust without importing 500ml of grease into your dinner.
What it costs you. You lose that perfectly uniform, shatteringly crisp exterior. Baked koftas tend to slump a little and flatten out on the bottom, so they don't look quite as perfectly spherical.
100g of double cream, 50g of butter and 50g of cashews for 150g of fat-free Greek yoghurt
The traditional sauce uses heavy dairy and nuts to build a thick, velvety texture. Fat-free Greek yoghurt gives you the same tangy creaminess and vastly bumps up the protein, provided you stabilise it with a tiny pinch of cornflour so it survives the heat.
What it costs you. This is a sharper and slightly thinner sauce. Nobody is going to mistake it for a glossy restaurant gravy that coats the back of a spoon anymore. The rich, nutty undertone from the cashews is completely gone.
200g of potato down to 100g
Potato is just cheap starchy filler in a restaurant kofta. Halving the potato while keeping the paneer ratio high means you get more actual cheese in every bite, which helps the dumplings hold their shape when baked rather than fried.
What it costs you. Potato yields a light, fluffy centre. Taking it away makes the resulting koftas noticeably denser and heavier to chew.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 653 | 315 |
| Protein | 19.7g | 19.9g |
| Fat | 50.9g | 17.1g |
| Saturated fat | 22.6g | 8.4g |
| Carbohydrate | 33.6g | 22.7g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 3g | 6.3g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Indian prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. milk.
The method is in the book
This is a massive win for a midweek dinner. You get all the comfort of hot cheese dumplings in a spiced tomato gravy, but you don't feel weighed down by a pint of double cream and a handful of cashews. The baked koftas lack that perfect fried crunch, but once they soak up the tangy yoghurt sauce, you honestly won't mind the trade. It tastes fresh, sharp, and totally satisfying.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Indian, along with 54 more. Buy the paperback