Chenna Kofta (cottage Cheese Dumplings In Spinach Gravy)

“ kofta’ is the magical way to include vegetables in your daily meal……I remember how my mother used to make Lauki kofta (bottle gourd), Mixed vegetable kofta and Cauliflower kofta to ensure that we eat vegetables. Chenna (Cottage cheese) has high content of protein but many kids do not like to eat them raw. You can make innovative recipes of chenna like the one I am detailing below to tackle this problem.

Chenna kofta
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Sapna Shaw's Secret Indian Recipe !
Serves: 
4

Preparation Time: 
20 Min
Cooking Time: 
40 Min

Complexity: 
Medium


Ingredients: 
For chenna kofta
Cow milk – 1 litre
Lemon juice – ½ lemon
Maida (Refined Flour) – 2 tablespoon
For spinach gravy
Palak (Spinach) – 1 bunch
Onion – 1 medium size
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Garlic – 6-7 cloves
Green chilli – 2-3 chilies
Cashew – 7-8 pieces
Posto (Poppy seeds) – ½ tablespoon
Tomato puree – 3-4 tablespoon
Roasted Cumin powder – ¼ tablespoon
Roasted coriander powder – ½ tablespoon
Salt – as per your taste
Ghee – 2-3 tablespoon
Directions: 
I prefer making this recipe by homemade chenna than buying it from the market. The reason is homemade chenna is very soft and fresh. To make chenna boil the milk in a wide pan and then sqeeze the lemon. Mix well and within few seconds the chenna will be separated from the milky water.
Drain the water and put the chenna on a muslin cloth. Closely hold all the ends together so that the chenne does not slip out. Put it under the running water for few seconds. This will help to drain away the sour effect of lemon juice. Now put the chenna under a slightly heavy thing to drain the excess water.
Keep the chenna on a plate, add 1 tablespoon of refined flour and knead it well using your hand until it turns into very soft dough. Spread the rest of the refined flour on a plate. Take small portions from the chenna dough and make small rounded balls. Roll it over the dry refined flour to prevent breaking. Once all the chenna kofta/ balls are made, keep them aside.
To make the spinach gravy, wash the spinach thoroughly and then put it in a pan. Switch on the gas and cover the pan with a lid. Cook the spinach on low heat for 2 mintues or until it turns soft. Drain the excess water released by spinach and then puree the spinach in a grinder.
Now make the gravy masala by grinding onion, ginger, garlic, green chilli, cashew and posto together. You can soak the posto for few mintues in a tablespoon of water for easy grinding.
After the initial preparations, heat the ghee in a pan and fry the chenna koftas / balls for few seconds. As soon as they start turning brown, take them out and keep aside.
In the remaining ghee fry the gravy masala on medium heat for about 3-4 mintues. As the masala starts leaving oil from sides, pour the spinach puree, tomato puree along with roasted cumin and coriander powder. Saute the masala on low heat for 10 mintues.
Now add ½ cup of hot water and salt and mix well. Bring to boil and finally add the koftas.
Chenna kofta is ready. Serve it with naan, chappati or kachori.