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Thursday, August 05, 2010

Rules and methi kofta

Rules, especially in this part of the world that I live in, are meant to be broken. If there is a No-parking board on the road, chances are you will find that it is surrounded by parked vehicles. If there is a No-entry sign, you will find vehicles making a detour through that road.
Now, one of the first things we learn while beginning to drive is that, if you want to turn right, you switch on the right indicator....or in the absence of it, stick your arm out and point to the right....or do the same thing with your left arm/left indicator if you want to turn left. Apparently, MTC bus drivers either were not told of this rule, or they are a confused lot who can't distinguish between left and right. It is always better to give MTC buses a wide berth.....you never know in which direction they might move. The bus in front of you might be at the right most corner of the road, with the right indicator flashing, and then, before you know it, the driver might make a W...I...D....E turn to the left. On Indian roads, might is right....and there's nothing mightier than a bus that is overcrowded with five times the number of people it is built to accommodate.
Which rules, when broken, make your blood boil?
Now, on to a recipe, where the only rules is Dig in with gusto!!!
Methi koftas
(Recipe source : Mallika Badrinath's 100 Delicious Vegetarian Curries)
What you need:

For the koftas:
Fresh methi leaves - 2 small bunches(roughly half a cup)
Sour curd - 1 cup
Gram flour/besan - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Salt

Mix gram flour, turmeric powder and salt with curd to make a thick paste. Heat a tsp of oil. Add cumin seeds and methi leaves. Fry for a minute or two till the leaves start to soften. Reduce the flame and add the flour paste. Keep stirring until it forms a thick mass. Once cool, mix in the garam masala and shape into balls.
After shaping into koftas, I used a paniyaram pan to fry these. You can deep fry in hot oil if that is what you choose to do, but believe me, there is no difference in the taste and this way, you use very little oil.
Add a little oil to each of the depressions in the pan and fry the koftas for a few minutes until the bottom starts to turn brown.

Turn over and fry until the other side turns crisp and brown.

Arrange the koftas in a serving dish and set aside.

For the gravy:
Grind together 1 onion, 2 tomatoes, a small piece of ginger, a green chilli, 1/2 tsp of dhania, 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder, a little sugar, salt, and red chilli powder.
Heat 2 tsp of oil in a kadai. Add the ground paste to it and fry on low flame until the raw smell is gone. Add a little water if you feel that it has become too thick.
Just before serving, pour this gravy on top of the koftas and garnish with corriander leaves.

Serve with parathas or rotis.

This goes to Divya's Show me your curry event.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

fat free koftas look delicious..

Vani said...

Wonder why they make traffic rules here. Perhaps for the occasional cop to make money on the side when he's short or just plain greedy?

I have to buy myself one of those pans. Very convenient and more healthy too. Curry sounds and looks delicious, J!

sanjeeta kk said...

Good idea to fry the vadas in the appam moulds, saves on oil.

Ms.Chitchat said...

That was very well written abt the rules in Chennai. Enjoyed thoroughly and true to the core. Koftas look very delicious and perfect to have with garam rotis.

lata raja said...

I understand and completely agree with you. If it is of any consolation,in the country now I live in breaking rules is a rule rather exception...especially while driving. Makes me wonder why they have to mark lanes on roads at all.
I have that book too, yet to try the kofta in the appa kaaral...they seem to have turned out perfect.

jayasree said...

The koftas look very crisp and if its me, not many will be left for the curry.

Satya said...

wow what a delicious kofta...love they way u prepared with out deep fry ...will try ur version soon...thanks for sharing dear

Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

Sanyukta Gour(Bayes) said...

healthy kofta curry....yummy yum

Unknown said...

I love that you are using appam pan for koftas, lovely curry and I am with you on rule breaking. My blood boil pretty much for every rule breaking, I so hear you :(

sra said...

Once a bus driver saw me and kept coming at me!

Inji said...

I can empathize with how things are in Chennai.. if it makes you feel any better, there is a quite a bit of rule breaking where I live too. Only the levels vary. Right now, what gets me really annoyed is when people drive while talking on the phone/texting.

BTW, curry looks delish.

Priya Srinivasan - I Camp in My Kitchen said...

Yummy Kofta's. wow!!! innovative way to fry kofta's. I m going to try that next time!!!

Unknown said...

First time to your blog. Nice way of making kofta in appam pan.

Lol on the saliva reflex! What amazes me even more is the way in which some people act in the US and then back home in India. They seem so decent in the US and when they are in India it is like they are starting to get their antics out.

Shah cooks said...

wow! a curry with methi pakodas.. i don't think i will get to the curry part.. i will eat the koftas as is!1

Shanthi Krishnakumar said...

Koftas are cr5ispy and delicious. Love the way you made in appakaaral

Rajani said...

hi i just came here frm the curry roundup. delicious. and what a brilliant idea to use the paniyaram.