No mincing words, this curry is fucking delicious. Just an absolutely lovely vegetarian beauty. Jam-packed with flavor and has an incredibly rich butteriness to it. Just oh my fucking god it's good. Certainly restaurant quality and the best curry I've ever made. If you want to simplify this recipe you can sub the kofta for something else, as they take about 1-1.5 hours to make whereas the sauce is only about 20 minutes. But I HIGHLY recommend trying this if you're a fan of Indian cuisine. It might not be authentic but it's authentic in my heart.
Also thanks to Mike Schmidt for introducing me to this curry and sharing the recipe. It's top-notch.
Tip: To maximize efficiency, make a double or triple batch of the kofta balls, and instead of frying freeze the extra in a single layer on a lined baking sheet. Once frozen add to a ziploc bag and freeze for later use. They will need longer to cook if you fry them from frozen.
Ingredients:
Kofta:
2 pounds (900 g) zucchini, trimmed, not peeled (6 cups grated)
2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt (or 1 tsp. regular salt)
1 small red onion, coarsely chopped (1 cup or 110 g)
2 tablespoons raw cashews (20 g)
4 large cloves garlic, peeled
4 lengthwise slices fresh ginger (each 2x1x1/8-inch) (26 g)
1 2-inch green Thai chilis, stems and seeds removed
¼-1/2 cup chickpea/gram flour (30-60 g)
2 tablespoons rice flour
2 tablespoons cilantro
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
Sauce:
2 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 small red onion, coarsely chopped (110 g)
2 2-inch Thai chilis, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons raw cashews (20 g)
2 tablespoons golden raisins (20 g)
1 (14.5-ounce/412 g) can diced tomatoes
1 tsp. coarse kosher or sea salt (or 1/2 tsp. regular salt)
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 tablespoons cilantro
Directions:
To make kofta:
Shred zucchini mix in salt. Let sit 30 minutes.
Meanwhile blend onion, cashews, garlic, ginger and chiles in a food processor until it forms a slightly chunky paste.
Wrap zucchini in a clean fabric kitchen towel and squeeze out all the liquid and discard it. Then add it to the bowl with the onion paste.
Then add chickpea flour, rice flour and cilantro and stir to combine into a slightly wet batter. If it's too wet add more chickpea flour.
Working quickly, place a heaping tablespoon of batter in the palm of your hand, squeeze, and roll into a 1 inch ball; transfer dumpling to a baking sheet. Repeat. Makes about 20-25.
To fry: Pour about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of oil into a wok or deep pot. Set over medium heat until it reaches 300°F. Meanwhile, line a plate or baking sheet with paper towels.
Once oil is hot, gently add 4-8 kofta into pan. Fry, turning occasionally, until they are honey brown and crisp, about 5 minutes.
Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon and drain on the paper towels. Repeat with remaining kofta. You may need to adjust heat to maintain the oil temperature. Set aside while you make the sauce.
To make sauce:
Heat ghee or oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and cook until they sizzle and darken, 5 to 10 seconds (you don't want them to burn). Immediately add onions, chiles, cashews and raisins.
Stir-fry until onion is soft and golden, chiles are pungent, cashews have turned honey brown, and raisins have swelled and darkened, about 5 minutes.
Add tomatoes, salt and turmeric to the saucepan, stirring once or twice to combine.
Transfer everything to a blender and purée. Pour sauce back into saucepan.
Stir in half-and-half and garam masala.
Gently add all kofta to sauce.
Heat over medium heat until sauce starts to bubble, then lower heat, cover the pan, and simmer until dumplings are warmed through and have absorbed some of the sauce, about 5 minutes; do not stir.
Sprinkle with cilantro before serving.
Almost all the ingredients I used. Ended up using 2 thai chilis but could have gone with 3-4.
If you don't have access to chickpea flour you can make your own by grinding dry chickpeas in a coffee/spice grinder.
And the result may look like this. Chickpea flour!
The Kofta:
Shred the zucchini and mix it with salt. I placed mine in a strainer lined with cheese cloth, but a fabric kitchen towel would work better. Let sit 30 minutes.
Meanwhile we'll prep the other kofta ingredients:
Added the chili, garlic, cashew, ginger, and onion to a food processor and before making a paste.
After making the onion paste. It's a little chunky but that's okay.
After 30 minutes squeeze the ever-living Christ out of it using the towel to get as much water out as possible.
Then add your squeezed zucchini to a bowl with the onion paste, cilantro, and flours. Then you'll mix it together.
We have our kofta dough! Mine was a little wet so I added about 2-3 more tbsp. of chickpea flour, so about 1/3-1/2 cup total. Then we roll into balls:
1-inch kofta balls.
Bols
Fry those babies until golden brown, monitoring the oil temperature as you go.
Fried bols
The Sauce:
Very quickly fry the cumin seeds.
Add in the onion, chilis, raisins, and cashews.
When they're about this cooked you'll add in the salt, turmeric and next the tomatoes:
Add in the tomatoes, mix in, and next we'll transfer to a food processor/blender to blend.
After blending. GORGEOUS.
After adding the sauce back into the pan and mixing in the half-and-half, garam masala, and some of the kofta (I was adding enough for a single serving). After reheating the kofta It is ready to eat!
Uffda