The Best Vegan Malai Kofta

This Vegan Malai Kofta is a creamy, delicious Indian restaurant style dish. Tofu and potato kofta balls are dunked in a silky and perfectly spiced tomato onion sauce. Serve with basmati rice or vegan naan for the perfect Indian dinner.

This vegan malai kofta is an adaptation of a beloved recipe I was first introduced to by my aunt Akka, an adventurous and intrepid cook. Akka would make a vegetarian, but not vegan, malai kofta year after year for an extended family dinner she hosted at Diwali. Although this is a north Indian dish (Akka, my father's older sister, is from south India), had mastered it and it was always the highlight of the meal.

Akka's malai kofta, as I remember it decades later, was dazzling: deep-fried, delicate balls of cheese floated in a subtly but expertly spiced creamy and orange-gold sauce. It tasted like something you'd eat at a high-end Mughlai restaurant.

That delicious memory is the one I held on to when I created this vegan malai kofta curry for my family and for you.

What are koftas?

Koftas can be loosely described as meatballs, and they are often made with lamb or beef or chicken meat in India. However, vegetarian versions like malai kofta, made with paneer, a fresh Indian cheese, and khoya, a reduction of milk, are just as -- or perhaps more -- popular.

Koftas are not a concept native to India. Rather, like other popular Indian dishes like this Vegetable biryani, Samosa, Gulab Jamun and Navratan Korma, which have heavy central Asian and Persian influences, koftas originated in the kitchens of the Mughals, Muslim invaders from central Asia who went on to rule a large part of northern India for nearly two centuries.

The Mughals were gone from India by the 19th century, but the food they popularized had already permeated and mingled with local north Indian cuisine, and it stayed put. Today, anyone can eat dishes like Malai Kofta anywhere in the world there is a north Indian restaurant.

Well, anyone except vegans.

Veganizing malai (cream) kofta

Given that the two key ingredients in a malai kofta are milk and paneer, making a vegan malai kofta can seem like a difficult job. But more than a decade ago, when I first developed this recipe, I came up with two subsitutions that worked really well: tofu and cashews. For the creamy, spicy, orange curry sauce I used cashew cream.

These substitutions work splendidly. No Indian I've served this vegan malai kofta to has ever guessed it's vegan--it is quite perfect and full of flavor. Over the years so many of you have also made it, loved it, and come back to tell me about it. I hope you will continue to enjoy it and make it in your kitchens.

Why you'll love this Vegan Malai Kofta

• It's tasty. This vegan malai kofta curry is possibly going to be the most delicious Indian dish you've ever eaten, it's that good.
• It's creamy and luxurious. The mouth-feel of the koftas and the curry are just right, especially when paired with a naan or rice.
• It's kid-friendly. This recipe has spices but it is not a very spicy dish, thanks to all the cashew cream and tofu, and those pretty, deep-fried kofta balls are a kid magnet.
• It's foolproof. This is an easy enough recipe, just be sure to follow instructions.

Expert tips for making the best Vegan Malai Kofta

• Here's the first thing to understand: If you're familiar with Indian food, you likely know malai is the Hindi word for cream. But malai kofta balls do not actually have any malai or cream, only the sauce does. The ingredients for the koftas cannot be fluid, as cream is, because they have to hold together in a ball firm enough to fry. So Indian cooks usually use khoya instead of "malai" in the kofta balls. Khoya is made by boiling milk until all of the liquid has evaporated and all that remains are the thick milk solids. Paneer and a small amount of potato is added to the khoya to make the kofta balls. In my vegan version, I sub the paneer with tofu, the khoya with cashews, and thank heavens a potato is already vegan. 😉 For the cream sauce, instead of cream or malai, I use cashew cream.
• This is a recipe designed for royalty, so the flavors here have to be just right -- not too spicy, not too overbearing, but delicate and voluptuous at the same time. So. Don't go overboard with the quantity of spices.
• You want all of the ingredients in the kofta balls to be really, really creamy while remaining solid, so make sure everything is broken down really fine without any water added. Grate the tofu and then give it a turn in the food processor to make sure it's as smooth as possible.
• You will need to process the raw cashews into a really fine powder, again without any water. The cashews help add richness to the kofta balls, the richness khoya would bring, so don't skip them unless you are nut-free.
• You need very little potato in the kofta balls, because the potato is simply there to bind, not to add flavor. Too much potato will result in a dish of potato dumplings floating in the curry, and that's not what you're going for. Use one medium potato, boiled and peeled, for this dish. You also don't need too much cornstarch or tapioca starch, depending on which one you're using. You want these balls to be creamy, not doughy, and the starch, like the potato, is just a binder.
• After adding the spices and cornstarch, the kofta balls should hold together firmly and shouldn't fall apart when you add them to the oil. Fry one ball first to make sure it holds, but if it doesn't, add more cornstarch and proceed.
• Koftas are often stuffed with a little surprise inside, like nuts or raisins. I added raisins because I like the bit of sweetness here, but if you want to add nuts, use chopped pistachios and/or cashews and you can certainly add both nuts and raisins.
• If deep frying scares you, you could put your kofta balls in an air fryer or the oven, but you won't get the same great crust or the flavor. My advise is to deep fry and eat in moderation. This is by no means an unhealthy recipe and it's filling, so I doubt you'll want to eat all of it at one go.
• The curry sauce that goes with the kofta is really simple to make, and it comes together quickly. You will need to process the sauce in the blender to make it really creamy, and then strain it for best results.
• I like the sauce thick here, but you can thin it out to your liking and for an even smoother texture. Use water to thin it out.
• The creaminess of the sauce comes from cashews and pumpkin seeds, which are both traditionally used in India. These also take away the need to add any cream to the sauce. Now here's a big DON'T. Unless you're nut-free and absolutely can't use cashews or pumpkin seeds, don't use coconut milk to add creaminess to the sauce--a mistake cooks unfamiliar with the nuances of Indian cuisine often make. Here's the rule of thumb to remember: in south India, cooks use coconut milk to add creaminess to recipes. In north India, they use dairy products like butter and cream. Malai kofta is unequivocally north Indian and the strong flavor of coconut milk simply does not work here.

Ingredients

For the kofta balls:

• Super firm tofu or high protein tofu. I strongly recommend using super firm tofu, also called high protein tofu, in this recipe because it helps hold the kofta balls together nicely. You can, however, use extra firm tofu--make sure you squeeze out as much of the moisture as you can before using.
• Cashews: Cashews provide the creaminess in the kofta, standing in for the khoya, or the milk reduction, that's usually such an integral part of malai kofta. You can use pumpkin seeds if nut-free.
• Cornstarch or tapioca starch: This will help bind the koftas together.
• Potato: Potato is usually used in malai koftas, and as it's divinely vegan we don't need to sub it here.
• Golden raisins (optional). For stuffing in the kofta balls. You can alternatively use chopped nuts.
• Ginger. For aromatic flavor.
• Green chili peppers, like serrano or jalapeno: For spice.
• Vegetable oil. For frying the kofta.
• Salt

For the creamy malai kofta sauce:

• Spices. Green cardamom pods), cloves, cinnamon, cayenne, turmeric, cumin seeds, ground coriander and garam masala.
• Onions: Try and use shallots or red onions, but if you have neither yellow onions will do.
• Ginger and garlic. For flavoring the aromatic, delicate sauce.
• Tomatoes: For the curry base,
• Cashews: These will make the kofta curry creamy. Don't be tempted to sub with coconut milk, which will alter the flavor. If you are nut-free, however, you can use more pumpkin seeds. Replace the cashews with an equal amount of unsalted, unroasted pumpkin seeds in addition to the ¼ cup of pumpkin seeds that are already in the sauce recipe.
• Pumpkin seeds: These, too, contribute creaminess to the gravy. If you are nut-free, sub the cashews as well with an equal quantity of pumpkin seeds.
• Kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves): Kasoori methi adds a nice, restaurant-style finish to this dish and its slight bitterness ties all the different flavors in this kofta curry nicely together.
• Sugar (optional). To balance out the flavors.
• Salt to taste
• Cilantro: For garnish

What to serve with Vegan Malai Kofta

Vegan malai kofta goes beautifully with an Indian tandoor bread, like a naan or roti.

You can also serve it with an easy Jeera Rice for a fantastic meal. Serve a vegan raita on the side.

More Indian restaurant style vegan recipes

• Vegan Palak Paneer with Tofu
• Mushroom Matar, Mushrooms and Peas in a Creamy Sauce
• Malai Gobi, a creamy cauliflower curry
• Vegetable Biryani in 30 minutes
• Vegan Paneer Butter Masala