Cooks Joy » Spaghetti with Paneer balls (Kofthas)

Spaghetti with Paneer balls (Kofthas)

Posted By Vardhini On July 19, 2011 @ 4:34 am In Blogging Marathon,Healthy Recipes,Indian,Italian,Kid Friendly,Main Dish | 31 Comments

Day 4 of the blogging marathon and it is all about spaghetti.

I think I can safely say that we are a pasta loving family. What is not to love about spaghetti or pasta right? They cook fast and can be jazzed up with a variety of vegetables and a variety of sauces. If you have sauce on hand, then it is a breeze to put everything together. These days I have been following a shortcut where I add the vegetables mainly broccoli to the pasta when it is half cooked. That takes out my guilt of not making an elaborate meal since broccoli is very healthy and thankfully my kids love it .. yeah I know .. I am surprised too

So how was this dish born? Well it so happened that in one of my paneer making sessions I messed it up a bit by curdling the milk early and ended up with a slimy paneer. I had used a gallon of milk and could not get myself to throw it away. After googling and talking to friends, I settled on making the kofthas. I did end up with a whole bunch of kofthas and I froze half of them. Have I told you that K does not follow any recipe, but just adds stuff here and there and ends up with a tasty meal !!. I am totally opposite and need a vision before I start cooking.

And during one of his cooking sessions he happened to glance at the kofthas in the freezer and they got transformed into “spaghetti with paneer balls”. I was pretty impressed with the dish and was waiting to make kofthas with real paneer !!. I made the kofthas and K put the sauce together. You can just use plain tomato sauce or add spinach and make it even healthier like we have done it here. There is only one problem to this dish .. yikes .. it is not photogenic. It did not give out that cute smile .. I tried .. K tried .. we finally gave up as we could not resist eating it. But don’t let the looks misguide you as it is extremely tasty and healthy too. Off to the kofthas and sauce.

Ingredients – Paneer balls (Kofthas)
2 cups paneer crumbled
1 cup potato mashed (2 medium potatoes)
1 green chilli
1 tbsp raisins chopped
1/4 cup coriander leaves
1/4 tsp chilly powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
Turmeric
Salt

Ingredients – Sauce
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
6 garlic cloves
2 cups tomato sauce
16 oz frozen spinach
1.5 tsp sambar powder (Chilly powder or chilly flakes can also be used)
Salt

Method – Paneer Kofthas
Had to show the beautiful block of home made paneer . This was made with 2% milk.

Boil potatoes and mash. Crumble the paneer.

Add mashed potatoes, green chillies and raisins to the paneer.

Add the chopped coriander leaves (cilantro).

Add the spice powders and salt. (Turmeric, chilly powder, coriander powder and cumin powder)

Mix well and form small balls.

We are going to brown the kofthas in a kuzhi paniyaram pan. Pour 1/4 tsp of oil in each groove and when the oil is hot place the balls.

In a couple of minutes flip the balls. 1/4 flip works best. (Flipping gently a little by little until all sides get evenly browned)

All the balls are browned and ready for sauce.

Method – Sauce
Heat olive oil and season with cumin seeds. Add the chopped garlic.

When the garlic brows, add the tomato sauce. I use store bought prego sauce normally. Add salt and sambar powder.

Add the frozen spinach.

Mix well and let the spinach cook.

Spinach is done and the sauce is ready,

Boil spaghetti as per package instructions and add the paneer balls and sauce to it. The paneer balls added a lot of flavor and it was one wholesome dinner.

Enjoy!

Check out what other BM Marathoners are cooking.

Sending this to ‘Fast food not Fat food‘ started by Priya and hosted here and also to HLI – Paneer hosted by Jayashree and started by Mom Chef.

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