Zucchini Sauce Omani Stylefor Kofta Recipes

ZUCCHINI AND ONION KOFTAS

Steps:

• Heat the oil to 350 degrees in a deep, heavy pot.
• Place the chickpea flour, green onions, 4 tablespoons water, the yogurt, garam masala, cardamom, pomegranate, onions, zucchini and salt into a large bowl and mix well. Form the mixture into golf ball-size balls and fry in the oil until golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain on paper towels prior to serving.

ZUCCHINI SAUCE

Steps:

• cook until tender.
• mash with a potato masher.
• stir until sugar dissolves.

DUDHI KOFTA CURRY (INDIAN SQUASH DUMPLINGS)

Steps:

• Prepare the dumplings: Shred zucchini using a food processor or box grater. Collect shreds in a large bowl and mix in salt. Let stand for about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, place onion, cashews, garlic, ginger and chiles in a food processor. Pulse until mixture forms a spicy-smelling, slightly chunky paste.
• Wrap zucchini in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out all the liquid. (Discard the liquid.) Transfer squash back to bowl and stir in onion paste mixture until combined. Add chickpea flour, rice flour and cilantro and stir to combine into a slightly wet batter.
• Working quickly, place a heaping tablespoon of batter in the palm of your hand and squeeze it to condense it into a ball; transfer dumpling to a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining batter to make about 25 dumplings. (The longer you let the batter stand without shaping it, the more liquid the squash will release, making it difficult to handle. Adding more flour will make it manageable, but will also make the dumplings too dense.)
• Pour oil into a wok, Dutch oven or medium saucepan to a depth of about 1 inch. Set over medium heat until a candy or oil thermometer registers 300 degrees. Meanwhile, line a plate or baking sheet with paper towels.
• Once oil is hot, gently slide 8 dumplings 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 dumplings. You may need to adjust heat to maintain the oil temperature.
• Make the sauce: Heat ghee or oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add cumin seeds and cook until they sizzle and darken, 5 to 10 seconds. 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 to a blender and purée, scraping the inside of the jar as needed, to make a smooth and spicy-sweet red sauce. Pour sauce back into saucepan. Pour 1/2 cup water into blender jar and swish it around; add this liquid to pan. Stir in half-and-half and garam masala.
• Gently add dumplings to sauce, making sure they do not break apart. Heat curry 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.

STUFFED ZUCCHINI IN TOMATO SAUCE OR KOUSA

Steps:

• Choose either medium or small zucchini. Wash well cut of stem end. Using a corer hollow out zucchini leaving rounded end intact. Try not to puncture the skin. Soak in salted water for 10 minutes.
• Gently fry onion in butter until transparent. Add pine nuts after 10 minutes cook with onions for another 10 minutes, stir occasionally.
• Add pan contents to ground meat, rice parsley, spice and about a teaspoon of salt and pepper and 1/4 cup of water if need to be easy to work with (I don't add water).
• Fill zucchini with stuffing. (The rice expands and the meat will shrink so fill them all the way).
• Prepare the sauce: in a frying pan gently fry chopped onion in butter. When transparent add chopped garlic cook for a few seconds and chopped peeled tomatoes, tomato paste, water and cinnamon with salt and pepper to taste.
• Ladle some of the sauce into the bottom of a heavy based pan, arrange zucchini in layers adding sauce to each layer, you may have 2-3 layers of zucchini. Or I stand them up on end with the open side up (again DH tells me this is not the "proper" way to do it but if they burn then only the one end is ruined).
• Add enough water to just cover the zucchini with sauce, you may or may not need to do this depending on how much sauce you have.
• Cover and simmer gently for 1 1/4 hours or until veggies are tender and rice is cooked.
• Serve hot or warm with sauce and Arabic pita bread for dipping.

ZUCCHINI SAUCE OMANI STYLE(FOR KOFTA)

Steps:

• Fry the zucchini and garlic in olive oil until slightly browned. Add on the chili flakes, herbs, diced tomatoes, salt and pepper. A splash of vinegar brightens up the flavor. Simmer uncovered for just ten minutes. This is a quick sauce. It's lit from within.
• In the winter you could cook this at a low, slow bubble while watching the snow fall.
• For the Kofta:.
• Mix the beef or lamb with the parsley, cilantro, red onion, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper. Knead for a few minutes, until the meat clears the sides of the bowl and the ingredients are evenly distributed.
• Roll the meat into 8 finger shaped Kofta. Dipping your clean fingers in a little water will help keep the meat from sticking. Cover and refrigerate until needed (at least 30 minutes for the flavors to mellow).
• Meanwhile, prepare the chunky, bright zucchini sauce - an entire garden in every bite.
• Grill the kofta over medium high heat.
• Fill a large platter with the zucchini sauce and pile on the kofta. Garnish with more parsley and serve with rice and flatbread.