Koftas are fritters, served immersed in a wet curry. They are absolutely delicious. Normally, koftas are deep-fried, but this oil-free recipe is as delicious as the fried ones. The most common kofta is made with lauki (bottle gourd). Once, several years ago, Hari said that he would make a kofta with carrots – and he did. They were really out-of-this-world. Since then, given a choice, I prefer the ones made with carrots. The dish can be served with steamed rice or Indian flat breads. Once you have tried a kofta, it is guaranteed that you will repeat the dish quite often. So, without further ado, let me get on with the recipe.

Ingredients
For The Kofta
4-5 carrots, grated
1 potato, boiled and mashed
1 tsp chili powder
1 green chili, chopped fine
1/2 tsp ginger, chopped fine
2 tsp gram flour (besan, kadalai mavu), to bind
Salt to taste
For The Gravy
1 cup vegan yogurt
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi, manjal podi)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp gram flour
1 tsp date paste
1 tsp mustard seeds (sarson, kadugu)
1 tsp cumin seeds (sabut jeera, jeeragam)
1 tsp carom seeds (ajwain, omam)
1/2 cup water
1 large onion, chopped fine
1/2″ piece ginger, chopped fine
To Garnish
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Salt to taste
Method
For The Gravy
Roast the onion and garlic till the onion turns translucent
Transfer to a blender and grind to a fine paste
Set aside
Put the yogurt, date paste and gram flour into a blender
Set aside
Heat a wok and mustard seeds, carom seeds and cumin seeds
When the mustard seeds begin to splutter, add the ginger-onion paste
Cook for a couple of minutes
Add chili powder and turmeric powder
Add the yogurt mix
Mix well and boil for 5-7 minutes, stirring continuously so that the yogurt does not ‘break’
Add salt and water
Mix well
When everything is blended well, remove from flame
Set aside
For The Kofta
Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl
Make small balls of this mixture (about the size of a large marble)
Steam these balls for about about 7 minutes
Transfer to the air fryer and ‘fry’ for about 15 minutes or till brown
Remove and cool
Putting It All Together
When the koftas are cool, drop them into the gravy
Garnish with coriander leaves
Serve with steamed red/brown rice of Indian flatbreads
Enjoy!