Mixed Vegetable Kofta Balls With Cashews Food

VEGAN MALAI KOFTA (INDIAN DUMPLINGS IN TOMATO ONION CURRY SAUCE)

Steps:

• Kofta: Process the hemp seeds or nuts until you have a coarse meal. Add potato and process until coarse. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until most of the chickpeas have broken down but not a paste. (Without processor, use nut or seed flour and grated potato. Then mash chickpeas and mix)
• The potato will leak moisture in the mixture in some seconds making it easy to make smooth balls. Do not let the mixture sit for too long at this point. Add more flour or starch if the mixture is too moist. Add a tbsp nutritional yeast for cheesier flavor profile.
• Take 2 to 3 Tbsp of the mixture and make round or football shaped balls - 1.5 inch size or smaller so they cook through. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 425 F (218 C). For 20 minutes. Or pan fry in 1/2 inch oil for 5 to 6 minutes until golden on most sides.
• Gravy: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the cumin, coriander, and bay leaf. Cook for 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook until slightly golden on some edges, 2 minutes. Add the onion and ginger, and cook until golden, 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the turmeric, cayenne, and garam masala, and mix for a few seconds.
• Add the tomato, cashews, 1/4 cup water and salt and cook until the tomatoes are saucy, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir occasionally to avoid sticking. Cool slightly, then transfer to a blender.
• Blend the mixture with 1/4 cup water, half the fenugreek leaves and sugar until smooth. Fold in the remaining fenugreek leaves. (This sauce is incredibly versatile, you can just add some chickpeas, baked tofu, roasted or par-cooked veggies and simmer and use!)
• Bring the blended sauce to a boil, add baked kofta balls and serve. Garnish with some cashew cream or other on dairy cream and cilantro. Serve with Naan or rice. To store: store the balls and sauce Separately until ready to serve.

MALAI KOFTA

Steps:

• For the kofta: Combine the mashed potatoes, cilantro, chiles, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Knead the mixture until thoroughly combined. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then set aside.
• Put the paneer in a food processor and pulse until crumbly. Add the nuts and dried fruit and pulse until the fruit is coarsely chopped and the nuts are broken into small pieces. (If the paneer is not salted, add a pinch of salt.) Transfer the paneer mixture to a small bowl.
• Form the mashed potato mixture into 8 equal balls. (A kitchen scale isn't necessary, but is helpful.) Form the paneer mixture into 8 equal balls. They don't have to be perfectly shaped, but it is much easier to stuff the potato balls when the paneer mixture has been squished into little balls.
• Hold a potato ball in the palm of your hand. Make an indentation with your thumb. Place a paneer ball into the concave hollow and push it in gently. Pinch the potato mixture around it and roll the potato ball in your palm to make a nice round shape. Repeat with the remaining potato and paneer balls. If the potato mixture is sticking to your hands and preventing you from rolling a smooth ball, dampen the palms of your hands with a little room-temperature water and continue rolling.
• Place the besan in a shallow bowl. Gently roll the stuffed balls in the besan. Transfer the coated balls to a plate, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you make the sauce. (It is easier to fry the balls when they have rested and are cold.)
• For the sauce: Meanwhile, stir together the garam masala, Kashmiri chili powder, coriander, turmeric and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl until combined. Set the spice mixture aside.
• Heat the olive oil and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and let sizzle until they darken slightly, about 30 seconds. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and just starting to get a hint of color, 8 to 10 minutes. (Do not brown them, as that will affect the color of the sauce.)
• Add the garlic, ginger and 1/2 teaspoon salt, mix well and cook, stirring often, until the raw smell goes away, about 2 minutes. Add the spice mixture and cook, stirring often, until the oil comes out, about 5 minutes.
• Drain the cashews and add to the saucepan, then add the tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Increase the heat to medium high and cook until the tomato mixture is thickened and pasty, about 7 minutes. Set aside and let cool.
• Meanwhile, fry the kofta. Fill a large Dutch oven halfway with vegetable oil, attach a deep-fry thermometer and heat over medium-high heat to 350 degrees F. Set a cooling rack over a baking sheet and place a paper towel over the rack. Carefully add half the balls, one at a time, and fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the balls to the prepared rack. Repeat with the remaining balls.
• Transfer the cooled sauce to a blender, add 1 cup water and process until smooth. Transfer the sauce back to the saucepan. Add the cream and kasoori methi if using and heat over medium heat until simmering. It should have the consistency of a smooth carrot soup; Add more water, if needed, and adjust the salt to taste.
• Gently add the fried kofta and heat, occasionally shaking the pan gently to coat the balls, until hot, about 3 minutes.
• For serving: Garnish with the garam masala and cilantro leaves.

MIXED VEGETABLE KOFTA BALLS WITH CASHEWS

Steps:

• First make up the sauce (gravy) for the kofta. Put 1/4 cup of the cashews (or slivered almonds would also work) into a spice grinder and powder. Repeat with the rest of the nuts. Put the powdered nuts into a cereal bowl and set aside.
• In a large nonstick frying pan put 2 Table. oil and 2 Table. of butter ( or ghee-which is clarified butter). Heat over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the hing and the powdered nuts, and stir to blend.
• If the nuts are not already toasted/roasted, cook them for a couple of minutes until they darken a few shades, otherwise, skip this step.
• Add 2 cups tomato puree (or in a bind you can use tomato sauce). Cook for about 5 minutes. If using fresh pureed tomatoes, you should cook the sauce about 10 minutes.
• Stir in the sugar, salt, turmeric, garam masala and cayenne powder. Reduce heat to low and cook 3 more minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and quickly stir in the 1 cup cream. Put the sauce back on the heat and cook another minute or two to just heat the sauce, but do not let it boil. Check for salt. Garnish with fresh minced cilantro.
• This sauce can be made earlier in the day or even the day before if it is refrigerated. The sauce will thicken, so will need to be thinned out when reheating.
• Make the kofta. To begin, put 4 cups mashed potatoes into a large mixing bowl. The potatoes need to be somewhat dry. You can also use instant mashed potatoes that you have made up on the dry side.
• Stir 1 Table. butter or ghee into the potatoes.
• Meanwhile, steam the small cauliflower florets and the 1/2 grated carrot until the cauliflower is soft. Drain and roughly mash up the cauliflower until it is in little pieces. Add to the potatoes. Add 1/4 cup frozen peas, 1/4 cup cooked corn kernals (optional, but tastes good), 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ginger paste, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and salt to taste. Stir gently, but until everything is well mixed.
• Take 12 cashews and roughly break them into pieces with your hands and add to the vegetable mixture. Add fresh minced cilantro and 3-4 Table. chickpea flour or all-purpose flour to bind. Mix. Check for salt. If the mixture isn't dry enough, add more flour.
• Form the potato mixture into golf-size balls. Set aside for a while, if desired, covered with plastic, or make up right away.
• When ready to fry the vegetable balls, in a medium-size saucepan put oil for deep frying and heat the oil over medium-high heat for about 10-12 minutes. When the oil is hot, carefully add 4-5 of the balls and quickly brown them. The inside of the balls are already cooked, so you are just browning the outside. Cook quickly. Don't add too many balls, or the temperature of the oil will reduce too much and the balls might start dissolving. Drain on paper towel. Repeat with the rest of the balls.
• To serve: put a few of the balls on the plate and spoon the sauce (gravy) over the top.
• Many people like to eat vegetarian kofta balls with just potatoes and grated paneer cheese. I like the texture when using the vegetables. If you want to add some paneer cheese to the mixture, reduce the amount of potatoes by one cup, and replace it with one cup of grated paneer cheese. The word kofta usually means ball shaped, and can be either vegetables, meat or even ball shaped sweet desserts.
• If the kofta balls start breaking apart while frying, you can try several tricks: 1. Increase the heat of the oil; 2. Add more chickpea flour to the balls to make them more dry; 3. Dip the balls in a batter of chickpea flour, water, salt, a dash of cayenne and a dash of ground cumin (optional) and then fry; 4. Put the kofta under the broiler to lightly brown instead of frying.

VEGGIE KOFTA PITTAS WITH PICK & MIX SIDES

Steps:

• Soften the onions and garlic with a few sprays of 1 Cal cooking spray and a splash of water in a non-stick pan. Once really soft, tip into a food processor with the chickpeas, breadcrumbs, egg, spices, lemon zest and juice, and plenty of seasoning. Pulse until fairly smooth, then add 30g of the spinach and pulse until finely chopped. Shape the mixture into 12 sausage-shaped koftas and put on a baking-parchment-lined baking tray. Chill while you heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
• Spray the koftas a few times more with cooking spray, then bake for 20-25 mins until crisp and golden.
• Meanwhile, mix together all the carrot salad ingredients with some seasoning. Put the remaining spinach in a bowl and warm the pittas following pack instructions.
• Serve the koftas with warm pittas, extra spinach, carrot salad, fat-free yogurt and pickled chillies, if you like.