Cheesy Cauliflower Kofta curry

This recipe was a total experimental recipe. I tried the cauliflower kofta for the very first time and I tried to make a low cal. version by avoiding to deep-fry. Well, I did succeed in a way...but boy..it took such a lot of time to cook the koftas. I saw this recipe at  my favorite blogger Raji's site. I went through the recipe once...oohed and aaahed on the pictures and decided to make it. My biggest mistake was that- I din't read the recipe thoroughly and I just saw a big instruction at the bottom, to make the low cal. version use the "paniyaram pan" ...:) I had never seen or used this pan before I borrowed it from my friend Lakshmi, but it was a pan with circular molds, "how difficult would it be right" or so I thought....... Well, the procedure is simple enough, you make balls and put the balls inside the circular molds and cook them, turning them so that they are cooked from all sides. I din't realize that it would take so long....and I realized what was my mistake when i started to write this post.....:)

More on that later, but the cauliflower koftas very super delicious. A big thank you to rakskitchen for such a lovely recipe ! 

Ingredients:

For the koftas:

• Cauliflower(grated 3 and 1/2 cups)
• Boiled potato (grated 1 cup)
• 1/2 carrot (grated)
• 1/2 capsicum(chopped)
• 1 green chilli(chopped)
• Cheddar cheese(about 1 cm thick, cut into cubes)
• salt and garam masala

For the curry:

• 3-4 garlic flakes
• 1 onion
• 3 tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp garam masala
• salt/coriander powder/jeera powder(1/2 tsp each)
• 1 cup milk
• coriander leaves to garnish

Recipe:

For the kofta:

• Grate the cauliflower, carrot and the potato. Chop the capsicum and chilly.
• Cook the cauliflower in a wok with a tsp of oil, make sure that all the water has evaporated and that it is dry. (I forgot to do this step, that's why it took me quite a while to cook the koftas later)

• Once the cauliflower is cooled add potato,carrot, chilly, garam masala and salt and mix it well. The mixture will come together like a dough. 

• Make balls out of it. Put a cheese cube in between and cover it with the cauliflower mix. 

• Now, brush some oil on the pan and place the kofta in the circular molds. 

• Move them around and see that they are cooked evenly.(I tried to move them around with the help of two spoons and then with two chopsticks...)
• Make sure that the heat is between low to medium, otherwise they will darken fast.
• Once the koftas are cooked from all sides, move them to a tray and repeat with the rest. 

For the curry sauce:

• Chop the onions finely. Grate the ginger and garlic. Pureed and strain the tomatoes to remove the seeds.

• Take one tsp of oil in a pan and saute all the ingredients with 1 tsp cumin seeds. 
• First add cumin, then ginger and garlic followed by the onions and then the tomato puree.
• Add the spices - cumin/coriander and garam masala powder and saute the mix well on low to medium heat. 

• Add about 1 cup of milk after the tomatoes and onions are all mushy and let the sauce cook for another 5 minutes to a smooth gravy.
• Pour this sauce over the koftas in a platter.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and a tsp of milk.

Quantity:

• About 4-5 servings with accompaniments like roti/rice/salad , etc

Notes:

• If you feel that the filling is not binding to balls, add about 1/2-3/4 cup of more grated and boiled potato (1 large potato)
• You can also add 1 tbsp of corn flour.
• You can deep-fry the koftas the traditional way....that is faster. 
• You can add about 2 tbsp of cashew-nut paste before the milk is added to make the gravy richer.
• You can stuff the kofta with dry fruits,  different cheese or paneer too(Indian cottage cheese).