Hello world! We’re halfway through October and I suddenly realized that it
has been a month since my first holler. For all my rant about the ‘food I
love’, I haven’t shared a thing yet and that’s certainly an oops moment for a
(wannabe?) blogger. So it’s time to get started on the food trip readers! Fasten your seat belts and let the journey begin…..
Since I’m taking you through the A to Z of the food I love, let’s start
with Z for zucchini. As I type ‘zucchini’ I can already feel some of you losing
interesting and thinking of better things to eat and read about. If I still
have you hooked to this post, I promise this will get interesting…….and if you
eat this you won’t even believe there’s zucchini in it. The vegetable lover in
me rediscovered zucchini this summer and the versatility of this green squash
is simply amazing. Roast it, saute it or combine it with chocolate in a freshly
baked bread…..there’s something for everyone. And if none of these ideas are
appealing enough, zucchini and Indian food is a match made in heaven. I did say
this would get interesting…….
So there I was one fine evening with cabbage and zucchini in the
refrigerator and the desire to whip up something fun. And thus was born
‘Zucchini Cabbage Kofta Curry’. A vegetarian kofta curry is by no means an
innovation and is quite the staple in Indian restaurants all over the world.
For the uninitiated, ‘koftas’ are dumplings made from vegetables or meat and the
curry bit comes from the koftas being simmered in a spiced sauce. Vegetarian
koftas are usually made with cabbage, carrots and/or cottage cheese. Now
zucchini is not typically found in India or used in Indian cooking. Well maybe
it’s available in the new and fancy grocery stores in big cities, but it’s
definitely not used in traditional cooking. So the creative genius in me
decided to throw zucchini into the koftas and the rest, as they say, is
history......
By the way, the picture is not that great because my camera decided to die on me just I was about to take a picture and I had to let my phone do the honors.
Zucchini Cabbage Kofta Curry
For the koftas / dumplings :
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chickpea flour (a.k.a besan)
2 small slices of whole wheat bread ground into breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon powdered cumin
1/2 teaspoon powdered coriander (powdered cilantro seeds)
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder (ground cayenne pepper)
salt
Mix all the ingredients together and divide the mixture into 12-13 equal sized portions. Make sure the portions are reasonably round shaped and space them evenly on a greased cookie sheet. Spoon a drop of oil over each portion if you'd like to. (You don't need to think 'oil rig' here....just a drop). Preheat the oven to 400 F and bake for 15-20 minutes.
For the curry :
1 tablespoon oil (I use canola)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 pods of green cardamom
1 pod of black cardamom
a tiny bit of mace (skip it if you can't find it)
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon powdered cumin
1/2 teaspoon powdered coriander
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
3/4 teaspoon garam masala (store bought spice mix)
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1.5 cups water
salt, as preferred
Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat and add the whole spices (ingredients 2 through 5). Fry the spices for about 10-15 seconds and then take the pan OFF the heat. Mix the tomato and ginger garlic pastes and add them to the pan with a few teaspoons of water. Mix well and return the pan to the heat source. (DISASTER ALERT : Refer to the note below). Let the pastes cook together for 3-5 minutes. Then add the sugar, salt and spices and mix well. Add water, cover the pot and let the sauce come to a boil. Add the koftas to the curry (SLOWLY) and simmer for 6-7 minutes. Combine the cornstarch with a teaspoon of water and add it to the curry. Stir gently until it begins to thicken. Voila!! Serve over rice or with bread.
Notes :
1. Adding any kind of paste to hot oil has all sorts of disastrous potential. Stuff may splatter all over you and your stove. So make sure the pan is off the heat source for a few seconds before throwing the pastes in and have a lid handy to cover the pot and contain the splatter.
2. Cornstarch acts like slow relief medication in my experience. It takes a little bit of time (in single digit minutes) for the curry to become really thick. Remember that before dumping half the box into the sauce.
3. The quantities of sugar and spices are indicative. Adjust them to your spice tolerance levels.
