Vegetable Kofta Curry- Baked

Yesterday I wanted to make a special valentine's day dinner for my husband, something which I had never tried before. I also did not want to go for an out and out greasy and unhealthy dish considering that we have recently came back from a vacation loading ourselves. I browsed for recipes and came across one on a site called khanakhazana for vegetable kofta curry. The koftas were fried in that recipe I just baked them instead. I omitted the sugar from the original recipe and YUM it came out very delicious. Right amount of spice, sourness and creaminess.

I had one fiasco though, I prepared the gravy, baked the koftas (that went perfect too) and put the koftas in the gravy and when my husband came in an hour later I just went to heat my curry. To my disappointment the koftas became soft, too soft, in the gravy. Even the lightest touch of spoon disintegrated them and I ended with one thick curry with all the koftas disappearing one by one from the gravy. I saved few koftas to take a decent picture but it is not decent enough.

Veg Kofta curry shouldn't be looking like this....but it was yummy anyways

Got it pretty the second time

Lesson Learnt: Put the koftas in the gravy right before serving, especially if you bake it.

But the recipe is a keeper and I will definitely make it again, probably then I will have a good picture to share.

Ingredients:
For koftas:

• 5-6 potatoes cooked and mashed
• 3 carrots grated fine
• 1 cup green peas cooked
• few sprigs cilantro chopped
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp amchur powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• salt as per taste

For gravy:

• 2 onions finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 3 tomatoes blended into puree
• 1 cup cashew nut powdered
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 cup cream 
• 1 cup yogurt
• few sprigs cilantro chopped
• salt as per taste
• 1-1/2 tbsp oil/ butter

Directions:

For koftas:

• In a vessel, take mashed potatoes, carrots and green peas and mix well.
• Add red chili powder, amchur powder, garam masala, salt, cilantro and mix well.
• Mix together and make small golf ball sized balls.
• Place the balls on a pan covered with aluminium foil sprayed with cooking oil.
• Bake in preheated oven at 375 degree F for 20 minutes. 
• Spray top of the balls with cooking oil and bake for another 10 minutes at 500 degrees F.
• Remove from  oven  and the balls should have golden brown color.
• The koftas are ready, keep aside to cool.

For gravy:

• Take oil in a pot and saute onions till they become soft and translucent
• Add ginger garlic paste and saute well.
• Add tomato puree and let it cook for a minute. Add yogurt and mix well.
• Add cashew nut powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder and garam masala. Mix them well.
• Add cream and mix well. Let the gravy simmer.
• If you think the gravy is too thick you can add water as needed. 
• Add salt and mix well. Let it simmer for more 5 minutes. At this stage adjust the spices in the gravy as per your taste. Add cilantro finally.
• Your gravy is ready

Finally, it is very important that you add the koftas in the gravy (you can warm it ) right before serving or you will just end up with one messed up gravy with no koftas.

Enjoy this yummy, simple yet rich dish that you can serve while entertaining.