Kofta balls in tomato sauce

Serves 4

These are basically a vegetarian meatball that are very cheap to make and taste delicious.

Ingredients

Koftas

• 2 cups cauliflower (grated)
• 2 cups cabbage (grated)
• 1 1/2 cups chick pea flour or potato flour (can use other types of flour if need be)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 pinch cayenne
• oil or ghee (for deep frying)

Sauce (or use your favourite pasta sauce)

• Tomato puree (1 - 2 cans)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• some finely chopped basil leaves if you have them
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 bay leaves if you have them

Method

1. Combine sauce ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes, keep warm.
2. Heat oil in a wok or large saucepan.
3. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Roll 24 balls, 2 cm in diameter.
4. Place as many balls in the oil as possible, leaving enough room for them to float comfortably; fry over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the kofta is rich golden brown.
5. Drain in colander.
6. Place the kofta in the warm sauce for 5 minutes before serving.
7. If after sitting the kofta soaks up most of the sauce, add a little water to produce more liquid.
8. You can serve with cooked spaghetti, or on their own, drizzled with remaining sauce.

There are also other variations of kofta meals such as baked spinach koftas and curry kofta meals. Google image search for kofta will show what I mean.