Recipe Courgette Koftas in a Coconut Tomato Sauce

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This morning I was thinking about the new courgette ingredient challenge and what I could enter for it. It's the wrong time of year in Australia for courgettes really, so making anything needs put of season produce and that's not something I generally like to use, but Pinterest popped up to me needs with a new Indian recipe using courgettes. It must have known.

The ingredients are pretty much normal. If you can't get either of the flours, I would imagine it would work just as well with plain flour to bind the koftas together.

I also can't help feeling that the sauce needs fresh coriander adding to it, but when i try in I'll let you know.




Ingredients

For the koftas *
500g courgettes
250g potatoes, boiled
100g onions, finely chopped
3 tbsp chickpeas flour
2 tbsp white rice flour
1 tbsp garam masala
20g coriander leaves, chopped
2 green chilies, chopped
1/4 tsp cumin powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying

For the sauce
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 bay leaf (tej patta)
1 cinnamon stick (15cm long)
1 tbsp ginger minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1-2 tsp red chill powder
1-2 tbsp coriander powder
2 tsp garam masala
600g tomatoes, finely chopped or 2 tins of crushed/chopped tomatoes.
400ml light coconut milk
125ml water
juice of 1/2 a lime

Method

1. Grate the courgettes and mix them with the rest of the ingredients for kofta. The mixture might feel a little loose and sticky but once it hits the oil it will crisp up nicely. If you are baking the koftas instead add a touch extra flour so that the mixture is a bit firmer.
2. Make up koftas into large walnut size balls and set aside ready for cooking. If they are sticking, coat in chickpea flour to make life easier.
3. Fry them in batches until light golden brown. If you are putting for baking them, place them on a lightly oiled baking sheet in a preheated oven at around 200C for roughly 20-30 minutes until lightly brown.
4. For the sauce, heat the oil in a pan until hot then add the bay leaf and cinnamon . Once they sizzle, add ginger, garlic, tomatoes and the remaining spices.
5. Let the tomatoes cook down completely over a low to medium heat. You want to reduce them to a sauce if using fresh tomatoes.
6. Remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaf and blend rest of the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Now mix in the coconut milk.
7. Return the mixture to the pan, add the water and let it simmer at low heat for around 10 minutes.
8. Add the lime juice and mix well.
9. Place the cooked koftas in the pan and spoon sauce over each of them in turn. Season with to taste as need.
10. Simmer until the sauce is thick. The sauce will thicken as it cools so if you plan to serve it later, add a splash of water and heat it before serving.
11. Serve over a bed of cumin rice.

The original recipe is from Journey Kitchen, though i have rewritten the method.