Vegetable Kofta Curry

[helgarde]

Sabz kofta are little "meatballs" made of grated vegetables held together with chickpea flour, formed into balls and fried. They are seasoned well with spices, ginger, cilantro and chiles and when made very well are so tender they will fall apart easily. The chickpea flour gives a nutty flavor to them and when fried they have a crisp crust with a

Comments

[empressdaleth]

I love veggie kofta in a nut-yogurt-tomato curry sauce!

yum!

[aleph_zahir]

This may be one of the most delicious looking items you've ever posted. I've had kofta before - but kofta in curry sauce?! Scratch the Thai Noodle Salad I was going to make tomorrow - I am SO making this instead!

[helgarde]

What I would do to make sure you have enough besan in the dough is to heat up your oil right after you have mixed the dough up, and try a ball about a teaspoon's worth, and see if it holds together in the oil. If it does, no need for more besan.

If it fragments, then put in a bit more besan--in 1/8 cup increments, until it holds.

That should work to give you tender, very flavorful kofta.

[aleph_zahir]

Yeah, I guess I still have to find the besan dough....I'm hoping it will be at my local Asian market, though.

[helgarde]

If they carry Indian foods, it will be there, among the chapati flour and the other flours.

[lilinchylde]

Heilsa,

I've never heard of Sabz Kofta before. It looks very tasty and nothing like the Kafta i'm used to eating. Is it quite as good (even though meatless)?

[helgarde]

Kofta basically are anything cooked in small balls. There are meat-based ones--lamb is very popular--I have a couple of different lamb kofta recipes on my blog--and they may be the ones you are most familiar with.

There are malai kofta that have vegetables and cheese as the base, and I like those a great deal, too.

However, I have to say, my favorite ones are these sabz kofta. When they are made well, they are tender inside and crisp outside, with a wonderful spicy, nutty flavor. I just adore these little fellows, and even my primarily carnivorous husband has always liked them. They don't taste like meat, but they don't particularly have the flavor of the vegetables either--they just taste good.

Most of the flavor is the besan, I think.

[lilinchylde]

Thank you kindly for that clarification. :D It all sounds so wonderful so I will definitely be taking a peek at your blog. (which I just now noticed I bookmarked recently before joining this community) lol.

[elbiesee]

Ooo, another vegetarian recipe! *adds to memories so she can make her fiance a kick-butt dinner one night...*

[pop_squash]

are these the same thing as Malai Kofta?

[helgarde]

Well, yes and no. (Love the icon, btw--hedgehogs rock!)

Yes, in that I have eaten sabz kofta that were called malai kofta in restaurants.

No, in that malai kofta are supposed to be made primarily out of paneer cheese, which gives them a totally different texture and flavor.

So, if you have had something called malai kofta in a restaurant that is soft and tender inside, and tastes kind of nutty and is crisp on the outside and you look inside it and it seems to be a bunch of ground up vegetables--then yes, this is the recipe you are looking for.

If the kofta are heavier, with a denser texture--and don't taste primarily of nuts--that is the besan--but has kind of a milky flavor, then you have had malai kofta from cheese.

Did that make it any clearer, or did I just confuse you?

(For the record, I have had these at restaurants where they call them malai kofta. I have also had malai kofta made with cheese--which is what the name "malai" denotes. I have only seen a couple of restaurants call these sabz kofta.)

[pop_squash]

hmm, well the malai kofta I had at Baluchis - a pretty good Indian place in Manhattan - were supposed to be mostly veggies. But they might have also had paneer in them. Oh well, it's not like I can actually make them. But yours look great!

And thank you - I love hedgehogs. cute cute.