Palak Paneer Balls
This one turns a plate of palak paneer into a bite-sized snack. Chopped spinach, grated paneer and tofu, boiled potato, and sweet corn get bound with chickpea and rice flour, shaped into balls, brushed with oil, and air fried until golden. No deep frying involved.
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Equipment I Used
The COSORI Air Fryer is what I air-fry this in.
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Palak Paneer, Shaped Into a Snack
Palak paneer is usually a dinner-table dish, a bowl of gravy with a spoon. This version takes the same pairing, spinach and paneer, and turns it into something you can pick up and eat with your hands. Potato and chickpea flour hold everything together, sweet corn adds little bursts of sweetness, and a touch of garlic and chilli flakes keeps it from tasting flat.
Grated tofu is in there too, alongside the paneer, which is what pushes the protein up without leaning on a single ingredient to do all the work. Shape the mix into balls, brush with a little oil, and the air fryer does the rest, no deep frying, no standing over a pan of hot oil.
Seven minutes later you have a tray of golden, snackable bites that taste like the dish they came from.
Where These Balls Go Wrong
A mixture that is too wet to hold its shape. Spinach and grated paneer both carry moisture, and if the mix feels sticky rather than firm, the balls will spread and flatten in the air fryer instead of staying round. Squeeze the spinach before mixing, and add a touch more chickpea or rice flour if the mixture still feels loose.
Skipping the oil brush. These are air fried, not deep fried, so the light coat of oil on the outside is what gets them golden instead of just dry and pale. Brush each ball on all sides before it goes in.
Overcrowding the air fryer basket. Balls packed too close together steam instead of crisping evenly. Leave space between them, and cook in two batches if your basket is small.
Small, Golden, and Properly Snackable
Done right, each ball is golden and lightly crisp on the outside, with a soft, well-seasoned centre carrying the spinach, paneer, and sweet corn through in every bite.
They hold up well on a snack plate or at the start of a get-together, and the batch works out to roughly 53 kcal and 3g of protein a ball, about a quarter of the calories coming from protein.
Method
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Mix the potato, spinach, sweet corn, paneer, tofu, chickpea flour, rice flour, coriander, garlic, chilli flakes, black pepper, and salt together in a bowl.
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Shape the mixture into balls.
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Brush each ball lightly with oil.
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Air fry at 200°C for 6-7 minutes, until golden.
Nutritional values per serving
| Nutrient | Per serving |
|---|---|
| Calories | 53 kcal |
| Protein | 3.1 g |
| Carbs | 5.3 g |
| Fat | 2.3 g |
Approximate values only. These nutrition values are recipe-based estimates for guidance. Actual values can vary by local brand, region, ingredient source, and preparation method. For your most accurate numbers, use the nutrition facts on your product packaging and calculate with your exact ingredients.
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