Swedish Style Vegan Kofta Balls Recipes

VEGETARIAN KOFTA BALLS (TOMATO SAUCE SEP. RECIPE)

Steps:

• Heat oil in a wok or 2-quart saucepan.
• Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Roll 24 balls, 1" in diameter.
• Place as many balls in the oil as possible, leaving enough room for them to float comfortably; fry over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the kofta is rich golden brown.
• Drain in colander.
• Place the kofta in the tomato sauce (separate recipe posted or use your own) for 5 minutes before serving.
• If after sitting the kofta soaks up most of the sauce, add a little water to produce more liquid.
• Serve with cooked spaghetti.

MIXED VEGETABLE KOFTA BALLS WITH CASHEWS

Steps:

• First make up the sauce (gravy) for the kofta. Put 1/4 cup of the cashews (or slivered almonds would also work) into a spice grinder and powder. Repeat with the rest of the nuts. Put the powdered nuts into a cereal bowl and set aside.
• In a large nonstick frying pan put 2 Table. oil and 2 Table. of butter ( or ghee-which is clarified butter). Heat over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the hing and the powdered nuts, and stir to blend.
• If the nuts are not already toasted/roasted, cook them for a couple of minutes until they darken a few shades, otherwise, skip this step.
• Add 2 cups tomato puree (or in a bind you can use tomato sauce). Cook for about 5 minutes. If using fresh pureed tomatoes, you should cook the sauce about 10 minutes.
• Stir in the sugar, salt, turmeric, garam masala and cayenne powder. Reduce heat to low and cook 3 more minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and quickly stir in the 1 cup cream. Put the sauce back on the heat and cook another minute or two to just heat the sauce, but do not let it boil. Check for salt. Garnish with fresh minced cilantro.
• This sauce can be made earlier in the day or even the day before if it is refrigerated. The sauce will thicken, so will need to be thinned out when reheating.
• Make the kofta. To begin, put 4 cups mashed potatoes into a large mixing bowl. The potatoes need to be somewhat dry. You can also use instant mashed potatoes that you have made up on the dry side.
• Stir 1 Table. butter or ghee into the potatoes.
• Meanwhile, steam the small cauliflower florets and the 1/2 grated carrot until the cauliflower is soft. Drain and roughly mash up the cauliflower until it is in little pieces. Add to the potatoes. Add 1/4 cup frozen peas, 1/4 cup cooked corn kernals (optional, but tastes good), 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ginger paste, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and salt to taste. Stir gently, but until everything is well mixed.
• Take 12 cashews and roughly break them into pieces with your hands and add to the vegetable mixture. Add fresh minced cilantro and 3-4 Table. chickpea flour or all-purpose flour to bind. Mix. Check for salt. If the mixture isn't dry enough, add more flour.
• Form the potato mixture into golf-size balls. Set aside for a while, if desired, covered with plastic, or make up right away.
• When ready to fry the vegetable balls, in a medium-size saucepan put oil for deep frying and heat the oil over medium-high heat for about 10-12 minutes. When the oil is hot, carefully add 4-5 of the balls and quickly brown them. The inside of the balls are already cooked, so you are just browning the outside. Cook quickly. Don't add too many balls, or the temperature of the oil will reduce too much and the balls might start dissolving. Drain on paper towel. Repeat with the rest of the balls.
• To serve: put a few of the balls on the plate and spoon the sauce (gravy) over the top.
• Many people like to eat vegetarian kofta balls with just potatoes and grated paneer cheese. I like the texture when using the vegetables. If you want to add some paneer cheese to the mixture, reduce the amount of potatoes by one cup, and replace it with one cup of grated paneer cheese. The word kofta usually means ball shaped, and can be either vegetables, meat or even ball shaped sweet desserts.
• If the kofta balls start breaking apart while frying, you can try several tricks: 1. Increase the heat of the oil; 2. Add more chickpea flour to the balls to make them more dry; 3. Dip the balls in a batter of chickpea flour, water, salt, a dash of cayenne and a dash of ground cumin (optional) and then fry; 4. Put the kofta under the broiler to lightly brown instead of frying.

BAKED KOFTA BALLS IN TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 400'F.
• Coat the bottom of a 9x13 inch oven proof dish or pan with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil so all of it is well covered. If you want to use more then do, these balls will stick to the bottom.
• Grate the cauliflower and cabbage. I used my food processor and it saved a lot of time.
• Put all the other ingredients except the olive oil in a large bowl and add the grated cauliflower and cabbage. Mix until well combined.
• Let the mixture sit for about 20-30 minutes so the moisture from the veggies is absorbed by the flour, this will ensure that the mixture will stick together and you can roll it into balls.
• Roll into 1 inch balls. I found squeezing them back and forth in my hands worked well.
• Place the Kofta balls in the oiled casserole dish.
• Drizzle a little more olive oil over each Kofta ball.
• Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. The Kofta should be a nice golden colour when you remove them.
• Let them cool for a few minutes. If they stick gently slide a spatula under each ball to remove.
• Put the Kofta balls in another dish.
• Spread 1/2 of the jar of pasta sauce in the bottom of the casserole dish. Place the Kofta balls on the sauce.
• Pour the rest of the sauce on top. I added a little water to the jar to get the rest of the sauce out. Let them sit for about one hour. The Kofta balls will absorb the sauce very well.
• You can reheat the Kofta balls in the microwave or in the oven.
• Bon Apetit!