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Baked Cauliflower Veggie Balls in spiced tomato onion sauce. Cauliflower Kofta Curry. Vegan Indian Recipe. Soy-free, easily made gluten-free. Free of dairy, egg, corn, soy.
There are several types of Kofta curries. Koftas are balls of meat or veggies or cheese. The richer variety usually has paneer cheese or meat in the balls and cream based curries. The everyday kofta curry versions are vegetable based and can have veggies like cabbage, carrots, potatoes, green beans, cauliflower etc. They can be fried and added to a simple tomato onion sauce or just tomato sauce. This version uses Cauliflower. The koftas and the sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated, then warmed up to serve.
It seems like a veggie ball kind of season. Add shredded potato or jackfruit or vegan cheese shreds to the veggie balls for variation. Use almond or sunflower seeds in the balls instead of cashews. You can also made the koftas with shredded cabbage.
I had one too many kofta recipes (malai kofta, lasooni veggie kofta, cabbage veggie kofta and this cauliflower kofta) to choose from for the cookbook. It quite difficult to narrow down from 175 down to 150 🙂
More fun recipes from the blog!
Spicy Garlic Dal
Chickpea Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Smoky Tomato Sauce
Jackfruit “meatballs”
Mango Curry Tofu
Curried Chickpea Rice One Pot Pilaf
I have been using feedly more and more lately to keep track of all the blogs I want to keep track of. Everything in one place. You can find my feed on feedly here.
Steps:
I used my mini food processor and added everything to it and done within 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, the blended sauce is cooking down.
Still cooking and has some more minutes to go.
Add non dairy milk, Taste and adjust salt and spice. Serve over baked or pan fried koftas.
Cauliflower Kofta Curry. Baked Cauliflower Veggie Balls in Spiced Tomato Onion Sauce. Vegan Recipe
Ingredients
Kofta/balls:
- 1/2 tsp toasted cumin seeds
- 1/4 cup cashews, or use almond slivers or sunflower seeds
- 3 cups cauliflower florets
- 1 hot green chili
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/2 inch knob of ginger, chopped
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1/4 cup chickpea flour
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, or coarsely ground oat flour
- 1/4 cup mashed potatoes , or shredded potato
- 1 tsp organic canola or saffllower oil, optional
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Sauce
- 1 cup chopped red onion
- 2 cups chopped tomato, 2 medium
- 1/2 inch knob of ginger
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp organic canola , or safflower oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cloves
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp or more garam masala
- 1 tsp sriracha , or other hot sauce
- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup almond milk , or coconut milk
- 1/2 cup water
- cilantro and cashew cream for garnish
Instructions
- Kofta/balls:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F / 220ºc. Toast the cumin seeds in a skillet over medium heat until fragrant (2 to 3 minutes),
- Process the cumin seeds and cashews in a food processor or blender to make a coarse mixture. Add all ingredients from cauliflower through garam masala and process. Or you can hand grate the cauliflower and mix in the spices.
- Transfer cauliflower mixture to a bowl. Add chickpea flour, 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, potato, oil, garlic, salt and mix well. Do not let the mixture sit at this point as the cauliflower will start to leak moisture. Add more breadcrumbs if needed. (If the mixture is too dry, let it sit for a few minutes and then shape into balls, If it stays too dry, add 1 flax egg to help bind).
- Shape into an inch size balls or flat discs. Place on parchment lined sheet. Spray or brush oil on the balls. Bake 22-25 minutes or until golden. You can also pan fry the discs, 3 to 5 minutes each side until golden. (you might need more flour or breadcrumbs to make sturdy discs to pan fry. These koftas do better when baked)
- Sauce:
- In a blender, add onion, tomato, garlic, ginger and blend to a puree. Use a few Tbsps of water if needed.
- In a pan, add oil and heat over medium heat. One hot, add the bay leaf and cloves and cook for a few seconds. Add turmeric, garam masala, sriracha and a Tbsp of water. Cook for a minute.
- Add the blended puree and salt mix well. Cook uncovered until the mixture reduces to a thick wet paste, smells roasted and some oil can be seen on the edges. 20 to 25 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add almond milk and water, mix and bring to a boil. about 5 minutes. Cook longer if needed for desired sauce consistency. Taste and adjust salt and spice. Add cayenne if needed. Serve warm koftas, drizzled with enough sauce. Garnish with cilantro or cashew cream. Serve with flatbread or rice.
Notes
Use 1/2 tsp coriander seeds instead of cumin seeds in the kofta balls.
Add 1/2 cup shredded potato, zucchini or vegan cheese to the kofta balls.
Add 1/2 cup of cooked beans like white beans or cooked split peas to the kofta balls. Omit the cashews. Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Great recipe. Love that the kofta can be baked instead of fried.
still same great flavour, thank you Sandra
Adding thinly sliced cabbage enhanced the texture. instead of blending the wet ingredients first, sautéeing them prior to blending them was my variation. After baking, they were like healthy delicious pakoras!
nice twist Albert
Can I freeze the Koftas?
Yes
Just awesome! I topped with a vegan Tzatziki I had in the fridge. The balls came out like restaurant. Thank you for the recipe!
mmmmmm tzatziki. Thank You!
I made this last night with some homemade Chana masala on the side to compliment it. I didn’t have cilantro on hand and due to the social distancing, I didn’t want to run out just to put it. So…..I just added a bit more coriander to it and although I think the color would have been a nice touch to the koftas themselves, it was scrumptious. I did use fresh tomatoes for the sauce and light canned coconut milk. The sauce was exquisite. My teenager absolutely loved it and had thirds and so did my husband.
I have had this recipe printed off for so long, but knew that making koftas is time consuming. Now that I’m home for this self isolating period, I have lots of time to cook and fortunately had 99% of the ingredients on hand without preplanning for this meal.
Thanks for an amazing recipe. I have made lots of your recipes and they are all fantastic.
So glad you enjoyed it and were able to make “social distancing friendly” adjustments! Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Richa! This is an incredible recipe! I made it for a lunch party and it was a hit! I used this recipe for the koftas and mixed in the makhni sauce from your cookbook! It was a wowza meal!
An amazing recipe, better than any dish I have had in an Indian Restaurant. I don’t like fresh coriander so I used parsley instead. The sauce really complimented the kofta balls.
Thanks