Cabbage kofta

Cabbage kofta (deep fried balls of shredded cabbage mixed with gram flour & spices) is a easier & tastier way to make your kids (or any cabbage hater) eat cabbage. This curry can be mixed with rice (or) served as a side for roti/puri/parathas.

Last time (and that is couple of years ago), when I tried making cabbage kofta, it didn't come out very well (koftas were very oily & breaking) and I, kind of gave up on this dish and never tried it again. Yesterday, I had half cabbage sitting in my fridge and it wasn't enough for making a dry curry for all of us. So, got brave enough to venture into cabbage kofta again and surprisingly, making koftas was lot more easier this time and they turned out "super perfect". My daughter loved this curry with rice as well with parathas and my hubby loved it too!

Ingredients

For Gravy

Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 3-4 nos (slit into 2 halves)

Ginger - 1 inch (grated)

Garlic - 1 clove

Onions - 1 no (Medium sized, chopped finely)

Tomatoes - 3-4 nos (Medium sized, chopped finely)

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Thick yogurt - 1 - 1.5 cups

Cilantro - Few (chopped)

For kofta (dumplings)

Besan (gram flour) - 3/4 cup (as needed)

Shredded cabbage - 1 - 1.5 cups

Grated potato - 1 no

Finely chopped green chillies - 2 nos

Cilantro - Few

Grated Ginger - 1 inch

Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil (for deep frying)

Method

Mix little salt to the shredded cabbage & shredded potato and microwave it for 3 mins. Then, leave it aside for 5-10 mins. This helps cabbage to give out its water so that koftas do not break. Squeeze as much as water possible out of the mixture (you can save this water and later, add it to the gravy). Mix together with the other kofta (dumpling) ingredients. Adjust gram flour (besan) as needed and make a soft dough. Prepare this mix just before you are ready to fry the kofta otherwise it will become watery.

Make small balls out of the dough of equal sizes.

Heat oil in a frying pan on medium-high. Slowly drop the balls into oil one at a time. Gently turn the koftas (occasionally). Fry the koftas until they turn golden-brown.

Now that koftas are ready, let's make the gravy. Heat oil in a deep pan on medium-high. Add cumin seeds and let it sizzle. Add ginger, garlic, green chillies and saute for few mins until the raw smell is gone. Add onions and saute until translucent. Add tomatoes, chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and let the mixture cook together for about 10-15 mins until the mixture leaves the side of the pan.

Now, add yogurt and reduce the heat to medium-low. Let it cook for couple of minutes. Add the prepared koftas and let it simmer for few more minutes.

Note: Adjust the thickness of the gravy by adding water (if required).