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chicken kofta in white gravy covered with julienne cut green chili and ginger
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4.63 from 24 votes

Malai Chicken Koftey

A fusion style Pakistani meatballs made in a creamy white curry.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: South Asian
Servings: 22 meatballs
Calories: 96kcal
Author: Wajiha

Ingredients

For Chicken Meatballs aka Koftey

  • 500 gm Chicken Boneless or Chicken Mince
  • 4 to 5 whole green chilies more if needed
  • 1 tsp garam masala powder
  • 2 tsp all purpose flour
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 tsp black pepper powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp roasted and ground cumin
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 inch piece of ginger

For White curry

  • 3 tbsp ghee or butter
  • Whole spices: 10 whole black pepper 5 cloves, 5 green cardamom, 2 black cardamom
  • 1/3 cup almonds
  • 2 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tsp all purpose flour maida
  • 1 tbsp garlic ginger paste
  • 2 tsp salt or to taste
  • 1 tsp garam masala powder
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1/2 tsp green cardamom powder elaichi powder
  • 1 tsp roasted and ground cumin
  • 1 tsp black pepper powder
  • 1 cup cream

Garnish

  • Green chilies slit open into half
  • Ginger julienne cut
  • Ghee
  • Lemon

Instructions

Chicken koftey or meatballs

  • In a chopper, add green chilies, onions, garlic and ginger. Chop finely.
  • Add boneless chicken into the chopper along with all the spices and all purpose flour. Process to get a smooth mix.
  • Remove the chicken mince into a ball. Grease your hands with oil and make meatballs from the chicken mince. I took roughly 1 tbsp of mixture for each meatball.
  • Place the meatballs in a plate and into the freezer for about 10 mins. In the mean time start working on the curry

White Curry

  • Boil almond in water for about 5 to 10 mins. (soak almonds in hot water for 10 mins to remove peel if they aren't peeled already)
  • Drain the boiled water and Process the almond with 1/2 cup of milk and all purpose flour in a food processor to get a fine paste. Set aside.
  • Bring out the saucepan in which you will make the curry. Add 2 tbsp of ghee.
  • Bring out the meatballs from the freezer and toss them in the ghee at medium flame. Toss the meat balls around in ghee just to get a color on them. Around 2 mins.
  • Remove meatballs in a plate.
  • In the ghee left in saucepan, add whole spices and garlic ginger paste. Saute till the paste turns light brown.
  • Add all the spices and salt and saute for a minute. Add the almond paste and saute for a minute.
  • Add the remaining milk and mix well.
  • Drop the meatballs back in the saucepan and cover. Let the meatballs simmer for 10 minutes at low flame.
  • After 10 mins, remove the lid and stir the meatballs around.
  • Add beaten cream to the meatballs and let it cook for another minute or two.
  • Sprinkle some garam masala powder, garnish with ginger, chilies and dollop of ghee and wedges of lemon to sprinkle on top
  • Serve with naan or roti or alfredo pasta.

Notes

The spice mix for the meatballs and the curry is exactly the same except for extra salt and green cardamom powder in the curry. You can measure the spices out together to make your work easy.
You can use 1/3 cup almond butter instead of almonds (see post for more substitutions)

Nutrition

Serving: 1meatball | Calories: 96kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.003g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 358mg | Potassium: 163mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 212IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 0.2mg