Vegetable Koftas in Tomato Gravy

I generally wait for some occasion to try out such calorie laden dishes. So when I had some friends over for lunch I thought it was perfect to give this a shot. Here is the recipe I followed...

Ingredients

For the Koftas

1 cup of green peas,

3 medium sized potatoes,

4 big florets of cauliflower,

2 slices of white bread,

3 tbsp flour or fine bread crumbs,

1 tsp garam masala powder,

1 tsp red chilli powder,

Juice of half a lemon,

1 tsp garlic paste,

1 tsp ginger paste,

1 tsp green chilli paste,

Salt to taste,

 Oil for deep frying

For the Tomato Gravy

6 medium sized red tomatoes,

3 small onions,

4 tbsp butter,

1 tbsp olive oil,

4 cloves,

2 small pieces cinnamon,

Paste of 15 cloves of garlic, 1 inch piece of ginger and 5 green chillies,

1 tsp sugar,

1 tsp garam masala powder,

Red chilli powder to taste,

Salt to taste,

1 tsp crushed black pepper,

1 tbsp cream,

1 tbsp grated cheese

Method

Peel and dice the potatoes. Steam the peas, potatoes and cauliflower florets till completely cooked. Let cool and mash well.

Mix in the garam masala powder, red chilli powder, lemon juice, salt, ginger, garlic and green chilli paste and the bread slices. Make it into a dough like consistency.

Make small balls and flatten to get an elongated shape. Roll this in bread crumbs or plain flour.

Deep fry on high heat. Ensure the oil is very hot or else the koftas will disintegrate in the oil while frying. Keep the fried koftas aside.

Heat some water in a vessel and add in the whole tomatoes. Once cool, puree the tomatoes. Grind the onions separately into a fine paste.

Heat the butter and olive oil, add the ground onions and fry till pink in colour. Now add the cloves, cinnamon and fry till the onions turn light brown in colour. Add the tomato puree and cook for 5 minutes. Add about a cup of water, sugar, garam masala powder, red chilli powder, salt to taste and crushed peppercorns.

Let it boil for about 5 minutes.

Just before serving arrange the koftas in the serving dish and spoon the gravy over the koftas. Drizzle the cream over the gravy and sprinkle the cheese. Heat in the oven for about 10-15 minutes at 200^oC.