Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Aloo (potato) kofta

I usually like it when my sister-in-law invites herself over for a "lovely Indian" (that describes my cooking AND me, by the way - so there!), because it obliges me to try out recipes that I've been hoarding to make "one of these days". She's vegetarian - she doesnt even eat eggs - despite being English and has been since she was 8 years old or thereabouts, to the mystification of her family. Anyway, she loves Indian food and I in turn try to introduce her to a wide variety of dishes when she visits us. Well, not all at the same time, of course.

This time I decided to try aloo koftas. After researching a wide variety of kofta recipes on the Net, I settled for the Vegetarian Society's recipe which was really simple. I wasnt sure how to get the potato balls to hold together and yet stay soft, but the recipe's tip of rolling the koftas in plain flour (I seasoned the flour) and deep frying them was just BRILLIANT! The koftas held together beautifully but didnt get hard.

One thing I'm really grateful for is that I didnt add the koftas to the gravy till just before serving. As it is, when I reheated the koftas along with the gravy, in the microwave, the damn things simply sucked up the gravy like a vacuum cleaner, making the whole dish rather thicker than I'd really wanted... I suppose I should have anticipated that, but I didnt.

Anyway, like I said, if I'd put the koftas in the gravy right after frying them, all I would have had to show for my efforts would have been potato mush in gravy. Tasty, perhaps, but mush nevertheless. Brr. Am I GLAD to have avoided that disaster!

Recipe for:
Aloo (potato) kofta




Ingredients:

4-5 large potatoes
1 cup peas
3 spring onions, finely chopped
3-4 green chillies (or to taste), finely chopped
2-3 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander powder
Salt to taste
Gram flour as required (or use plain flour), seasoned lightly with ground black pepper to taste
Oil for deep-frying

For the sauce:
2 tbsp oil
1 large onion ground to a paste with 1 tomato
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Juice from 2 tbsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
4 large tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1-1/2 cups water
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method

1. Pressure cook the potatoes, peel and mash.



2. Cook the peas in the microwave, and add them to the mashed potato, breaking them down slightly.



3. Add the spring onions, chilli, coriander, spices and salt.

4. Mix well and form into small balls (size of a large marbble). Roll each one in the seasoned flour, knocking off any excess.



5. Heat the oil in a kadai or deep pan. Fry the potato balls in batches till golden. Dont overcrowd them.



6. Drain the koftas on kitchen paper until required.



7. To make the sauce, heat 2 tbsp oil and fry the chopped onion till it goes soft.



Then add the ground onion and fry on medium high until the oil starts to leave the sides.



8. Add the garlic, ginger juice and spices and cook for 2 minutes.

9. Stir in the chopped tomatoes.



Fry on medium high again, until the tomatoes have broken and the sauce has thickened.

10. Just before serving, put the koftas in a serving dish and pour the hot sauce over.



Serve immediately with cumin rice or parathas.

13 comments:

Linda said...

OMG Shammi, those golden brown aloo koftas -- how could you wait for the gravy? I would have been eating them straight from the fryer ;)

This looks delicious -- and a lovely Indian indeed! :)

EC said...

Koftas look very tempting...i have tried out these only with panner and aloo..thanks for sharing

Anonymous said...

awesome

Anonymous said...

awesome, i really love your blog, the receipes are very much doable(& a lot of tamishness which i like) & taste awesome even when ,made by me.

amna said...

love ur step by step illustration! shud definitely try this!

Shammi said...

Llinda: they were VERY hard to resist! :) We all snaffled a few koftas before they went into the gravy.

Easycrafts: I've to try other kinds of koftas now, but this was really the easiest.

Anon: Thank you very much, that's the sort of thing I like to hear :)

Nags: You should! :)

Finla said...

It looks really delicious. Once i tried them and when i fried the ballw it just seperated. I was so upset afor it .
Will try your recipe

TheCooker said...

The koftas look delicious! I'd have to hide them or we'd have none left for the gravy.
Love the step-by-step photos. You have some patience.

remya said...

well done dear...fried koftas are perfect... i like to have the whole plate...cool pics ...love the step by step procedures...

Shammi said...

Thecooker: If I didnt have guests to feed, the koftas would have disappeared before ever setting eyes on the gravy! :D

Remya: Thanks! :)

Nupur said...

Hey hey, lovely Indian! :D The koftas look so decadent and delish.

Rajesh &Shankari said...

my comment dissapeared :)

Vijayakrishnan said...

Lovely koftas...and it did come out very well..thank you for your wonderful recipe. Any way of making the gravy a bit on the sweeter side? I tasted koftas at an indian restaurant here in Melbourne and the gravy was a bit on the sweeter side. Could you help me with that? (The restaurant has since been closed here :-) )

Cheers,
Vijay.