Veg koftas in a spinach gravy

This is going to be one lengthy post for it has two recipes in it. But please be patient and be with me, for this is a delicious dish! I just came back after sitting in a 4 hour  CPA exam that left me totally drained and exhausted!So though I am in no mood to be writing, I felt blogging might help me take my mind off the whole 4 hour ordeal.I realized I have not told any of you that I am studying to be a CPA! I should be studying something related to food if you ask me. And that is going to be another story for another time!:D

Getting back to today! Good food makes me feel better all the time! Me and RB went to a local Indian restaurant after the exam to treat ourselves to some good food! I was in no mood to cook and he had to work, hence the restaurant. We ate from a buffet and they this palak gravy. That reminded me of this recipe. I had made this recipe few days back at home to take my mind off studying for a while. I had clicked photos but never got to posting it! So here I am now doing what I should have done then 🙂

This recipe has koftas in a palak gravy. You can serve the koftas on its own as a tea time snack. You can also use this palak gravy as a base and add paneer or vegetables as you like to make palak panner/ palak vegetables. If you want to make this for guests, prepare the palak gravy, kofta mixture in advance. When you want to serve, heat the palak gravy, fry the koftas and serve 🙂

Ingredients:

For the spinach gravy:

• 2 cups spinach washed
• 1 onion chopped finely
• 2 tomatoes chopped finely (or you can use puree)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 green chillies (or as per taste)
• 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 tsp amchur powder ( substitute with lemon juice )
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
• 1 tbsp oil/butter
• cream (optional)
• pinch of sugar
• salt to taste

For the koftas:

• 1 large potato boiled and grated/mashed
• 1/2 cup coarsely ground soy chunks
• 1/2cup mixed vegetables
• 2-3 tbsp finely chopped coriander
• 1 tsp amchur powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1-2 green chilli finely chopped
• 2 tsp corn starch
• salt to taste
• oil as needed

Method:

For the gravy:

Boil hot water in a deep dish and blanch the spinach leaves in hot water for 2-3 minutes. When done, take them out of the hot water and refresh the leaves by placing them in cold water. Drain the water and puree the spinach with green chillies and set aside.

In a pan, add oil/butter. When hot add, bay leaves, cumin seeds and let it sizzle. Then add ginger garlic paste (I used finely chopped ginger/garlic) and saute for a minute.

Add the finely chopped onion and saute until soft and transparent. Add the tomatoes, chilli powder,turmeric powder, amchur powder a pinch of salt and saute until the oil starts leaving the sides of the pan.

Add the pureed spinach, garam masala, 1/4 cup water (or more as needed), salt , sugar and cream and let it cook for couple of minutes.

Finally add crushed kasuri methi and mix well.

For the koftas:

Boil the potatoes and mash them/grate them.

Boil the vegetables and mash them as well( I used only carrot. I had loads of carrot and had to use them! You can use peas, beans, beetroot, corn)

If you have soy granules cook them as per package instructions and use it directly. I had the bigger soy chunks. So I cooked them as per instructions and pulsed them in the mixer until I got coarse crumbs.

Mix all the ingredients for the koftas (all the veggies, spice powders, corn starch,salt ) and mix well.

Make balls of the mixture and deep fry/ shallow fry them. I fried them in my paniyaram pan! It takes less oil.

When the koftas are done place them in a paper towel to take off the excess oil.

When you are ready to serve place few koftas as needed in the gravy and serve hot with any Indian bread.

Note:

If you do not have amchur powder and are using lemon juice instead, add the juice at the end.

Kasuri methi (Dried fenugreek leaves) brings an amazing flavor to the dish. If you do not have kasuri methi add finely chopped coriander instead.

Grated paneer can be used in the kofta mixture as well. If the koftas do not bind well, add more corn flour to the mixture. Alternatively, you can dip the koftas in corn flour and water paste and roll them in some bread crumbs and fry the koftas.