Vegetable Kofta

These days whenever I pick up a magazine or newspaper, I notice that they reserve a sizable amount of pages/space for healthy eating. Wherever you look, you see articles about healthy eating, ads marketing healthy food stuff, people advocating healthy life style. Me being an extremist tends to take one of the following courses as an after effect. Either I decide to be healthy and make sure that I eat well, I exercise well and all those stuff OR I decide to let it pass by saying what’s the whole point if you cant enjoy a piece of cake or some beef fry or give into a sudden craving of having Chinese in the middle of the night ;)

This post is the result of me opting for the first part… deciding to be healthy. This recipe sure comes handy when you want to get a taste of healthy living. Another thing I love about this recipe is that, you dont have to buy any fancy ingredients, its pretty much basic stuff.

But let me warn you, dont be surprised if you see a  fully calorie loaded recipe as the next post. I definitely love preaching than practicing ;)

Here it goes:

1. Red lentils (Masoor dal) – 1 cup
   Water – 2 1/2 cups
2. Green chilly – 2-3
   Garlic & ginger paste – 1 tsp, each
   Onion – 1 big, finely chopped
3. Cumin(jeera) powder – 2 tsp
   Coriander powder – 2 tsp
   Garam masala – 1/2 tsp (optional)
4. Gram (besan) flour – 4 tbsp
5. Egg – 1, beaten
6. Salt
   Oil
   Coriander leaves

Add water to the washed lentils and cook till its done. Drain well.

Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onions. Saute till it becomes soft and changed color slightly. Add the green chilly & ginger garlic paste. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the spice powders & mix well. Cook for a minute. Add cooked dals & stir. Add gram flour and combine well. Remove from fire. Let it cool. Add the beaten egg & stir the mixture thoroughly to bind. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

With wet hands shape the lentil mixture into sausages or patties. Heat oil in pan & cook the koftas. You need only a little oil. Flip the koftas and make sure that all sides are browned evenly. Serve hot with hummus/tabbouleh or tomato ketchup.

Notes: You can make it in patties and it can be made into a veggie burger. The koftas tend to become dry very soon, so its ideal to make it just before serving. However you can make the mix and refrigerate for  2 days.  You can make it non veg by adding some cooked & shredded or minced chicken along with the dal & continue the same procedure.

Please check out the photo of Veg Kofta made by Anju Rameshan, based on the above recipe. Thanks a lot Anju :)

Recipe adapted from BBC Goodfood Magazine