Aloo kofta recipe with step by step photos – potato cheese patties or balls or koftas as we call them served on a bed of rich creamy spiced gravy.
First time I had potato kofta curry at a friend’s place many many years back. The curry was made by her mom. The gravy was a tomato based one and the koftas had potatoes and paneer in them. It was the simplest kofta curry I have had till date and very homely. One of the best kofta curry of which the taste still lingers.
I make aloo kofta curry occasionally for a weekend lunch. For the kofta, i keep a simple stuffing and use minimal spices. Here the gravy is not a simple homely one, but slightly rich and restaurant style. It tastes more like a makhani gravy.
Koftas are deep fried balls which can be made from minced meat, veggies or paneer or cheese. Few such popular kofta recipes on blog are:
In this recipe, the kofta are made from potatoes and grated cheese. I have shallow fried the kofta instead of deep frying and shaped them in patties or tikki.
This aloo kofta gravy is good for small get-togethers or parties or weekend lunch or dinners. The recipe can be easily doubled. Serve aloo kofta with rotis, naan or jeera rice.
How to make aloo kofta
Prepping:
1. First boil or steam 2 large potatoes (250 grams) till they are thoroughly cooked. Allow them to become warm.
2. In another pan or bowl, heat water till it boils. Then add 2 large tomatoes (200 grams), 1 large onion (100 grams) and 15 almonds. You can heat the water in a pan, electric heater or microwave. Cover and keep aside for 20 minutes. Instead of almonds, you can also use 14 to 15 cashews.
3. Roughly chop the onions, tomatoes and add to the grinder and blender. Also peel the almonds and add them to the grinder.
4. Grind to a smooth paste. Cover and keep aside. No need to add any water while grinding to a paste.
Preparing aloo kofta
1. When the potatoes, become warm, peel them. Mash very well with a potato masher.
2. Grate 20 grams cheese. You should get ¼ cup grated cheese. Here I used processed cheese. You can also use paneer.
3. Now add the grated cheese, 1.5 tbsp corn starch, salt and ½ tsp crushed black pepper to the mashed potatoes. Instead of black pepper, you can add chopped green chilies or red chili powder in the koftas.
4. Mix very well.
5. Make medium sized balls from the kofta mixture and flatten them slightly.
Frying aloo kofta
6. Heat 4 tbsp oil in a tawa or griddle. First place a small portion of the mixture to check if it breaks or not.
7. If the tiny kofta does not break, then you can safely place the koftas in the hot oil. If breaking, then add more corn starch (½ tbsp to 1 tbsp more) to bind the mixture. If you use grated paneer, then again you will need to add more corn starch, then what is mentioned in the recipe, as paneer leaves moisture.
8. Turn over when one side gets golden.
9. Fry the other side of aloo kofta and flip again once or twice to get an even golden color. You can also deep fry the koftas instead of shallow frying.
10. Place the aloo kofta which are done on kitchen paper towels. Continue frying the ones which are not done. Keep the koftas aside.
Making aloo kofta gravy
1. Take the same oil in which the koftas were fried in a pan or kadai. You can also take 2 tbsp fresh oil. Add ½ cumin seeds and 2 small tej patta or 1 medium to large tej patta (Indian bay leaf).
2. Add the ground tomato-onion-almond paste.
3. Stir very well.
4. Add 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste. Stir.
5. Then add the spice powders – ¼ tsp turmeric powder, ½ tsp Kashmiri chili powder or deghi mirch and 1 tsp coriander powder.
6. Stir and saute till the mixture thickens and you see oil specks releasing from the sides and top of the mixture.
7. Add water.
8. Stir very well bring the gravy to a simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.
9. Add salt.
10. Add sugar.
11. Stir and then add 3 tbsp cream, ¼ tsp garam masala powder and ½ tsp crushed kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves). Add ¼ tsp garam masala powder, if homemade. If store brought than you can add ½ tsp garam masala powder.
12. Stir very and switch off the stove top. Don’t add the koftas directly to the gravy in the pan. As the koftas will break since these are light and soft textured potato koftas.
Pour the gravy in a serving plate or bowl. place the aloo kofta on top of the gravy. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and Serve aloo kofta With Indian flatbread like naan or paratha or Malabar parotta or roti or with rice-based dish like cumin rice or veg pulao.
More Potato recipes
Aloo Kofta
Ingredients
for making aloo kofta
- 250 grams potatoes or 2 large potatoes or 3 medium potatoes or 1.25 cups tightly packed mashed potatoes
- 20 grams processed cheese or ¼ cup grated cheese substitute paneer instead of cheese
- 1.5 to 2 tablespoon corn starch (substitutes are bread crumbs or rice flour - add accordingly.)
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper - crushed
- salt as required
- 4 to 5 tablespoon oil for shallow frying koftas
for aloo kofta gravy
- 100 grams onion or 1 large onion or 2 medium onion - quartered
- 200 grams tomatoes or 2 large tomatoes or 3 medium tomatoes
- 15 almonds or 14-15 cashews
- 2 small tej patta (indian bay leaf) or 1 medium to large tej patta
- 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste or ½ inch ginger and 3 to 4 garlic - crushed to a paste in mortar-pestle
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon kashmiri chili powder or deghi mirch
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
(ground coriander)
- 1 to 1.25 cups water
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- ½ teaspoon kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves) - crushed
- 3 tablespoon low fat cream or 2 tablespoon whipping cream
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar or add as required
- salt as required
Instructions
preparation for aloo kofta
- First boil or steam 2 large potatoes (250 grams) till they are thoroughly cooked. Allow them to become warm.
- In another pan or bowl, heat water till it boils and add 2 large tomatoes (200 grams), 1 large onion (100 grams) and 15 almonds.
- You can heat the water in a pan, electric heater or microwave. Cover and keep aside for 20 minutes.
- Roughly chop the onions, tomatoes and add to the grinder and blender. Also peel the almonds and add to the grinder. Instead of almonds, you can use cashews.
- Grind to a smooth paste. Keep aside.
making aloo kofta
- When the potatoes, become warm, peel them. Mash very well with a potato masher.
- Grate 20 grams cheese. You should get 1/4 cup grated cheese. Here I used processed cheese. You can also use paneer.
- Now add the grated cheese, 1.5 tbsp corn starch, salt and 1/2 tsp crushed black pepper to the mashed potatoes.
- Instead of black pepper, you can add chopped green chilies or red chili powder in the koftas. Mix very well.
- Shape in medium sized patties.
frying aloo kofta
- Heat 4 tbsp oil in a tawa or griddle. First place a small portion of the mixture to check if it breaks or not.
- If the tiny kofta does not break, then you can safely place the koftas in the hot oil.
- If breaking, then add more corn starch to bind the mixture. If you use grated paneer, then you will need to add more corn starch as paneer will leave moisture.
- Turn over when one side gets golden.
- Fry the other side and flip again to get an even golden color. You can also deep fry aloo koftas instead of shallow frying.
- Place the aloo koftas which are done on kitchen paper towels. Continue frying the ones which are not done. Keep the koftas aside.
making aloo kofta gravy
- Take the same oil in which the koftas were fried in a pan or kadai. You can also take 2 tbsp fresh oil. Add 1/2 cumin seeds and 2 small tej patta or 1 medium to large tej patta.
- Add the ground tomato-onion-almond paste.
- Stir very well. Add 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste. Stir.
- Then add the spice powders - 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp kashmiri chili powder or deghi mirch, 1 tsp coriander powder.
- Stir and saute till the mixture thickens and you see oil specks releasing from the sides and top of the mixture.
- Add water. Stir very well bring the aloo kofta gravy to a simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add salt. Add sugar.
- Stir and then add 3 tbsp cream, 1/4 tsp garam masala powder and 1/2 tsp kasuri methi, crushed. Add 1/4 tsp garam masala powder if homemade. If store brought than you can add 1/2 tsp garam masala powder.
- Stir very and switch off the stove top.
- Pour the gravy in a serving plate or bowl. Place the aloo kofta on the gravy.
- Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve aloo kofta with rotis, naan or jeera rice.
Very nice recipe. Tried it and my family loved it.
can we skip the chess or we can use any other ingredient instead of chess
you can skip the cheese. no need to add anything instead of cheese.
Very tasty recipe. Quantities mentioned gave my recipe a perfect taste. My family kept licking fingers whenever i made it. Thanku 4 d recipe.
Welcome Laxmi. Glad to know this.
Made this aloo kofta curry yesterday.Was a great big hit with my husband and daughter.They just loved it.Another lovely recipe which will be made time and again.Thank you once again for another tasty and delicious recipe.So grateful to you for sharing these recipes with all of us.
Welcome Shernaz. Glad to know this. Thanks for sharing your positive feedback on recipes.
Dear Dassana,
My remarks are not getting published. Please guide..
got your comment and i have already replied to the same.
I want to thank you dear. I am daily cooking from your website. I am thankful to you for such a colourful variety. I tried complimenting 3-4 times but my remarks were unable to be published.
May God Bless you
thanks a lot megha. nice to know the website is helping you. i have already replied to your comment before too. if you refresh the page, you will see your comment.
Please help where do my comment goes as i m unable to reach you as we neither receive any reply nor acknowledgement..
megha, this is the first comment we have received from you. let me know what your query is.
Dear Dassana, the first word to say about this dish is it is simply amazing…fridge wasn’t working and so had nothing un-vegeterian☺…had only loads ofpotatoes, was quite hungry and nothing seems appetizing until saw this and just had to try…no almonds and was feeling hesitant about so many cashews as this is the first time trying so add a handful of peanuts and 4-5 cashews. Didnt have cream also, so skipped the sugar and add two tbsp of condensed milk…the gravy was rich, yummy, the koftas succulent. In all fingerlicking good..feel very satisfied….thank you, so so so much for all the detailed steps. Keep up…
Welcome Kimia. Thanks for sharing your positive feedback. Glad to know that you liked the recipe.
Hello,
I have a question regarding the kofta preparation.Is it possible to use corn flour instead of corn starch?
Badhreesh, yes you can use.
Nice recipe! Tried it today & the curry came out really well.. The detailed explanation is really helpful 🙂
thanks sharlet for positive feedback 🙂 glad you liked the aloo kofta curry recipe.
Is bay leaf imp. here!? What els can we use instead of it!?
nothing can be used. just skip it.
Thankyou soo much! The recipe came out so well! U r so sweet to share ur knowledge wid others! And you take a lot of effort to reply oua doubts and you encourage us too! Thank you!
welcome nashara and thankyou so much 🙂
Can cream be omitted?
yes you can omit cream.
Awesome recipe everybody in my family loved it thanks
Can you please help? I am having a difficult time to increase the ingredients for aloo kofta gravy to make 20 times the recipe. The potato kofta is easy to figure out but the gravy is not. It is my daughters favorite and would like to make it for her going away party in two weeks. Would appreciate any help you can give. Thank you.
for making gravies, it becomes difficult to scale the recipe proportionately. the balance of the flavors can go wrong. when i make gravies for large servings, i use the method of approximation (we call it as ‘andaz’ in hindi). the ingredients are added in approximation or eyeballed and then added. you can try making this kofta gravy this way.
Seems easy to calculate the first 6 ingredients of the gravy but the spices are more difficult. I will be making this amount (20x your recipe) only once. Will you please tell me if this is the right amount of spices?
oil – 2 cups
onion – 3 pounds
Tomatoes – 10 pounds
cashews – 1 pound
cream – 3-3/4 cups
sugar – 3 Tablespoons
water – 1 quart or more as needed
ginger/garlic paste – 1/4 cup + 3 Tablespoons
cumin seed – 3 Tablespoons
tumeric – 1-1/2 Tablespoon
Kashmiri chili – 3 Tablespoons
graham masala – 1 Tablespoon
coriander – 1 Tablespoon
Thank you very much.
i have tried to imagine and think the proportion of ingredients. stated in grams below. if you feel the flavor of the masala powders are not coming through, then you can always add some more.
oil – 1.25 to 1.5 cups
onion – 500 grams
tomatoes – 1 kg
cashews – 1/2 to 2/3 cup
cream – 1 cup, do add more to balance the tangy taste of tomato if required
sugar – 1 to 2 tbsp
water – 1 to 1.25 litres or as needed
1.5 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1.5 tbsp cumin seeds
1 to 1.5 tsp turmeric powder
1 to 1.5 tbsp kashmiri red chili powder
1.5 to 2 tbsp coriander powder
1 to 1.5 tbsp garam masala
Have tried this recipe and its awesome every time i make it.
glad you like them prajakta 🙂 and thankyou.
Hi I tried your recipe of malai kofta and read this aaloo kofta today which I am going to make this evening but I want to know the difference between aloo kofta and malai kofta. After reading this I don’t find them much different
thanks komal. malai kofta has khoya in it and some version even add cream or malai in the kofta. in this recipe, there is no khoya or cream added to the koftas. dry fruits are always added in the koftas. the gravy is more or less the same for kofta based curries.
I’ve made the dish today, my family like it but they loved the koftas more than the grave maybe because I added milk instead of water. But I really enjoyed it.
Thank for sharing
thanks priya for the feedback. milk will change the taste of the gravy. never mind as long as you liked the recipe.
Nice, can I use almonds instead of cream?
since almonds are already added in the gravy, you don’t need to add them again instead of cream. just don’t add the cream.
Can whole cashews be used instead of almonds? Or half amount of almonds and half of cashews?
ankita yes could try this way too but remember it would also impact the taste and flavor of the recipe.
Hi Dassana, I am a big fan of your blog and it is always my point to refer to whenever I am looking for any receipe. Thank you so much for putting this together!
I had a quick question which is on fact common for all gravies. Whenever we add tomato paste to the oil and as you mention we should sauté till the oil leaves the sides. In my case this never happens – no matter how long I do it the oil never leaves the side/ comes on top. Is there something that I am not following correctly?
Thanks
Swati
thanks swati. do you use fresh homemade tomato puree or store brought tomato paste. let me know.
Thanks Dassana for the quick response 🙂 I grind fresh tomatoes in the mixer.
Thanks
Swati
welcome swati 🙂
U r awesome.
It makes the whole idea of a guy trying to cook for family in week ends fun. Please keep the good work up?!
glad to know this sourabh 🙂 thankyou so much.
Thanks for this yummy mouth watering recipe…Gravy preparation was interesting..i am curious to know why did we soak tomato and onions in hot water before grinding it..
thanks. the soaking is just to blanch both the onions and tomatoes.
Overall really good! I think I may have cooked mine too long and it got too thick or I didn’t add enough water but the flavour was there and the fried potatoes patties were amazing! thank you for this recipe!
thankyou will for trying you could try again this recipe to the tee and you could get the desired result 🙂 and you are welcome.
frst thing quietly it looks good so i made it in ur wy…
i loved as a new starter also i feel it easy thanks to yu dassana guru..!!
welcome surya. thanks for your kind words.
quite a unique recipe since those koftas look like aloo tikkis. will definitely try it.
thanks rahul
Hi,
Having some guests over for dinner tomorrow. Do you think Aloo kofta, Methi Malai Paneer and Plain rice would go well together?
Suggestions to replace the methi malai paneer with another paneer dish are the most welcomed.
Looking forward to try it tomorrow.
Thanks!
yes they will go together since both the aloo kofta and methi malai paneer taste different. instead of plain rice, i would suggest you to serve with jeera rice or biryani rice. also rotis or naan will taste good with these curries. you can also think about palak paneer or paneer lababdar. recipes are already posted on the blog.
Hi,
I am currently in Malaysia and am having trouble to find some dry methi leaves. Since you use it in most of your recipes, I can’t make any of them 🙁 any substitute for fresh and dry methi leaves? Methi seeds maybe?
perina, for dry methi leaves you can use methi seeds powder. in this recipe one pinch is enough.
hello–
i made this tonight with your jeera rice recipe and it had a sublime sort of richness and depth of flavor. my father really enjoyed it. i use your recipes /very/ frequently. all of them have been lovely. thank you for being so generous with your knowledge.
welcome rebecca. glad to know this. thanks for sharing positive review.
Hello Amit,
Yersterday I tried your recipe & it came out so well…!!!!
My hubby loved it & the dish came out so yummy n tasty dat he licked his fingers.. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. Its very helpful for food lovers & specially beginners…!!!
Always do share such good recipes… (Y)
very pleased to know this kriti 🙂 we are glad we could help beginners in cooking as that was our intention when we started blogging. thanks for your kind and encouraging words.
Hi Dassana,
I have been following your website for quite some time now and I am a fan. So thanks and please do continue.
I tried this recipe today for my wife and she loved it. It really turned out well.
Thanks again !!
welcome shashwat. glad to know this.
Please can you post new recipes i love ur blog and have been a regular visitor…..loads of love cant wait anymore more new recipes
thanks riya for your motivating words to post recipes. will start adding regularly after 4 weeks, but for now i will add one or two recipes. tied up with some work and then with a travel later.