Courgette Kofta Curry
Aged 25 years I travelled for 3 months in India with my husband Matt just before we had kids. We took our time flying into Delhi just before New Year’s Eve, then bussed it up to Rajasthan, then followed the coast down on buses and trains to Karnataka and Kerala through the southern / central area of the state of Tamil Nadu and out of Chennai, then onto Sri Lanka and ultimately, New Zealand. It was an epic journey and what I especially loved about our travels in India was how different each state’s cuisine was. In Gujarat, which is considered a vegetarian state, we enjoyed this style of curry often. This is my interpretation of a dish we ate and loved there. In India this curry was made with gourd (lauki), but I am using courgettes which work perfectly, and I also got a bit bag of them at my local veg shop on Saturday for 99p. Win win.
Top Tip, this is a great way to cook with courgettes which will be plentiful and inexpensive in the shops from now here in the UK.
INGREDIENTS
1 small onion, peeled, ½ roughly chopped, ½ thinly sliced
2 - 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely grated
1 - 2 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
3 tbsp sunflower oil, plus more to deep fry
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 medium courgettes (about 400g), coarsely grated and squeezed dry (SEE REEL)
Small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped or use mint
1 lemon
1/2 - 1 tsp sugar
100g gram flour (or you could use plain flour)
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 - 2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder, to taste ( I am cooking with my youngest daughter in mind)
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp garam masala, plus more to serve
3 whole bay leaf
1 whole cinnamon quill
2 fresh green chilli, whole
METHOD
In a frying pan over a moderate heat, fry the onion, garlic and ginger in the oil for about 10 minutes, or until soft and just beginning to brown. Add the 1/2 the ground spices and cook for 2 mins more.
Blend the cooked onion mixture with the tin of tomatoes, the juice of 1/2 the lemon, ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar and around 300ml water to form a smooth sauce.
Put the sauce back in the pan and simmer covered over a moderate heat with the whole chilli, cinnamon stick and bay leaves for 15 minutes or until rich and thick. Remove from the heat, check the seasoning and keep warm.
In a bowl, mix the courgette, gram flour, remaining lemon juice, remaining ground spices with 50ml water and ½ tsp salt to form a thick batter.
Carefully heat 5cm deep of oil in a wide deep pan until very hot. The oil is ready when you drop a small piece of the batter into the oil it sizzles and immediately floats to the surface (around 160C if using a digital thermometer)
Drop tablespoons of the batter into the oil and fry for a few minutes or until golden on all sides (you will have to do this in batches). around 2 - 3 mins depending on size of the kofta. I kept mine fairly small. Drain on kitchen paper and leave to one side continuing with the remaining batter.
To serve, put the fried kofta in a large serving dish and pour over with the curry sauce. Add the herbs and serve with a sprinkle more garam masala, more lemon to squeeze over and some steamed rice.