Kofta’s are one of the most mouth water inducing recipes from Indian kitchen’s. Loved by all, and cooked to celebrate special occasions, or a sometime treat or just celebrating the onset of a weekend, which is why I had cooked it. It’s rich, it’s spicy and unbelievably flavourful. The process though elaborate is hardly difficult. If I can make it anyone in this galaxy can..
It’s got a couple of steps, since it involves two stages-1) curry & 2) Kofta’s (spicy fried vegetable balls)
So we start with step 2. i.e. the making of the kofta’s.
Assemble your ingredients- for the kofta making you will need.
-1. Oil for deep frying
-2. Boiled potatoes mashed 1/2 cup
-3. Steam and water drained bottle gourd1/4 cup
-4. Paneer 2 tbsp
Before proceeding, lets figure out how we can completely drain the gourd of it’s water.
take the gourd and grate it well. If you’re like me- keep a band aid handy.
this is what the green mass of the gourd will look like.
throw it in a deep pan- mine looks like a well, but yours doesn’t need to. Throw it in without adding any water- keeping the heat on very low cover and cook for not more then 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes you’ll see all this water accumulated in your pan or well in my case. We need to separate that- take a cheesecloth or any fine cloth and drain, squeeze it using your hands, but please let this stuff cool down first or wear gloves. squeeze out all the water- any moisture ad it will refuse to bind completely, and we don’t want to fry a mess of green mass.
This is what it will look like after draining out the water. You will realize the mass has reduced. fret not.. it’s A-OK..
This is our line up of ingredients for the Kofta’s. Boiled & mashed potatoes. I used some leftovers from the Aloo Parantha but you can always just use your boiled potato mashing it well, and the white wodge of beauty is Paneer of course. (you can refer to my Paneer making 101 post).. well that’s it, mash them all together, using 1tsp salt, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp red chilli powder.
This is what it’s all going to look like once we have mixed it well.
Scoop out small bits of this mixture and using your hands roll them into balls or these cylindrical little babies. I always make them this way cuz my mom always made them so, and they taste amazing and I miss my mom now…
That’s it, heat your oil, and deep fry these little green monsters until they’re golden and crispy.
Drain them on a paper towel resist the urge to eat them. they’re perfectly edible this way with some ketchup. great snack or beer companions.. I had 4 .. No I didn’t eat any.. yes I did.
This is it.. the Kofta part is done. Going to the curry. easy as a breeze. get your blender ready.
This is the line up of the curry ingredients. 1 big fat onion, 1 not so fat tomato red as blood, 2 green chillies the spicier the better, 3-4 garlic cloves, 1 inch ginger.. Blend it all together.
fresh out of the blender and a mess on my kitchen counter. this is what it will look like.
There isn’t more to it now. take 2 tbsp oil from the leftover oil used for frying. take a pan/wok heat the oil and add in 1/4 tsp of cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp of freshly ground black pepper & the paste .
This is what it’ll look like while it’s cooking. Give it around 10 minutes to completely cook. You’ll know it’s cooked when you feel like dipping your face into the curry. resist the urge- no good outcomes.. trust me.
Here it is, now completely cooked. Blistering red and flavorful. Add in 1/2 tsp turmeric, 2 tsp ground coriander, 2-3 tsp salt (depending on your love for salt), 1/2 tsp cinnamon, stir and let cook for another few minutes.
Finally add in water arund 250 mls, give it a good stir to combine with all the paste, check to taste, and add in salt according to your taste. add in 1/4 tsp of sugar to balance out the salt and spices and when almost done, add in the kofta’s and cover for a few minutes before serving.
Serve with rice or bread and dive in.. It’s so pretty and sooo tasty.
Ingredients
For the Kofta’s
1/2 cup boiled mashed potatoes
1/4 cup bottle gourd grated and well squeezed
t tbsp paneer
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
Oil for deep frying
mash together all these ingredients. Using your hands scoop them and make into small balls. Fry them till deep golden and drain on a paper towel.
Curry:-
1 large onion
1 ripe red tomamto
1 green chillies
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 inch ginger.
2-3 tsp salt
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper.
1/2 tsp turmeric
200 mls water
2 tbsp oil for cooking.
Blend together the onion, tomato, garlic, ginger and chillies to a smooth paste. Heat oil in a pan, once hot add in the cumin seeds and the pepper. Once they start sputtering tip in the blended paste and let cook till the oil starts separating or the mixture turns deep red and brown. Add in the turmeric, coriander powder, cinnamon powder, salt and stir to combine and let it cook for another few minutes. add in the water and mix well into the paste. let it bubble a bit and add in the sugar. Cover and cook for a few minutes and finally add in the Kofta’s draining on the paper towel. Cover for some time before serving with rice or breads..
Enjoy !!!
Driedredchillies 