Monday, November 23, 2009

Cabbage kofta curry

Cabbage kofta curry

I like my cabbage sabzi crunchy but the usual recipe seemed tiresome last night so I thought I'd try something different. This preparation was slightly more time consuming than my standard recipe but resulted in a creamy curry with melt-in-your-mouth koftas. I looked at a few different recipes online but mainly took inspiration from this one. I tweaked it some (and didn't measure any of the ingredients) so I thought I'd jot it down before I forget what I did.

Ingredients

For koftas:
1/2 head cabbage (it was medium-large in size) shredded
1/4 cup channa dal (also called Bengal gram dal) boiled; about 80% cooked
1/2 tsp chilli powder (or to taste) (Indian chilli powder is more like cayenne pepper powder)
2 tsp+ 4tsp besan flour (chickpea flour)
salt
oil for frying

For curry:
1 medium-sized onion finely chopped
1/2" fresh ginger minced ( I smashed it with the garlic with my motar & pestle after mincing)
2-3 cloves of garlic minced ( I smashed it with the ginger with my motar & pestle after mincing)
1/2 tsp cornflour (optional) as a thickener. You could used ground cashew nuts, but I didn't have any at hand.
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
1 1/2 tsp corriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 to 3/4 cup yogurt beaten well
1/2 tsp garam masala (I made my own)
1 tsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
fresh corriander leaves (cilantro) (I didn't have any at hand, but will add some the next time)
oil for cooking
salt

To make koftas:
  • Mix cabbage and channa dal and cook well together. I used my trusty pressure cooker.
  • Drain the water well (reserving liquid) using muslin.
  • Mash the mixture; add chilli powder, 2 tsp besan flour and salt. It might release more liquid at this point because of the salt, so squeeze the liquid out again, if need be.
  • Make small balls; roll in remaining besan flour; fry till golden brown; drain and keep aside. I didn't roll the initial batch in additional flour and they fell apart while frying. You could use egg, I suppose. But rolling the balls in extra besan flour before frying worked remarkably well.
To make curry:
  • Heat oil in pan; add cumin seeds; wait 30 seconds.
  • Add onions and fry till golden.
  • Add ginger+garlic and fry till raw smell disappears.
  • Add turmeric, chilli powder, corriander powder, cumin powder and fry till raw spice smell disappears. Be careful not to burn the masala. Add a little bit of reserved liquid to keep from burning. I added a bit of cornflour at this point to thicken it a bit but I may leave it out the next time.
  • Add yogurt; cook for a minute; add reserved liquid; bring to a boil.
  • Turn flame to low; add garam masala; simmer for a few minutes.
  • Crush kasuri methi by rubbing it between your palms and add to curry.
  • Once the consistency of the curry is to your liking, gently add the koftas, garnish with chopped corriander leaves.
  • Serve hot with naan, rice, roti.
Like I said before, I didn't measure any of the ingredients while making it so these are just approximations of what I think I added! The ingredients list is long but the recipe isn't necessarily complicated. I promise.

If you try making it, let me know how it turns out. Also, if you have questions, feel free to email me.

1 comment:

  1. Yum. I'll have to try this (but not this week since Thanksgiving side dishes are all I can think about). Will you and your husband celebrate? Thank you for posting a recipe!

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