Recipe#11863

Title: Dal Kofta Curry

Article: 5346 of rec.food.recipes 
 Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes 
 From: jkandell@Violet.CCIT.Arizona.EDU (Jonathan Kandell) 
 Subject: Dal Kofta Curry (Steamed Toor Balls in Buttermilk) 
 Message-ID: <00970795.66E2DF16@Violet.CCIT.Arizona.EDU> 
 Date: 3 Aug 93 21:46:14 GMT 

For kofka balls:
 1 cup Toor dal (toor dal is also known as toovar dal)
 1/2" piece ginger
 4 green chilies
 2 cloves garlic
 1 small onion
 1 handful cillantro leaves (optional)
 4 cup buttermilk or yoghurt
 4 green chilies, finely chopped
 1" piece ginger, grated or finely chopped
 1 teasp. each ground coriander, cumin, channa dal [roasted if desired]
 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek
 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
 1/4 cup, approx. desiccated unsweetened coconut, ground if desired
 2 tablespoon oil
 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
 a few curry leaves
 Wash and soak toor dal for a few hours.  Drain and grind to a course
 paste along with onion, ginger, garlic, and chilies. (I do this by
 chopping the large ingredients and blending with the dal in batches.
 Add enough water so the blender pastes, but not so much that it
 turns to watery mush.)  Mix in salt and (optionally) cillantro
 leaves.  Form into balls and steam 20 minutes.  Remove from heat
 and cool balls.  They will obtain a somewhat rubbery texture as
 they cool.
 Gently heat buttermilk/yogurt in a pan.  Add spices (ground coriander,
 cumin, channa dal, fenugreek, turmeric) and enough dried coconut
 to give a nice flavor and slightly thicken the sauce.  (I add all
 these ingredients to a coffee grinder and grind to a powder.)  Add
 ginger and chilies.  Add salt to taste.  Adjust spices.  It will
 taste like it's missing something until you add the flavored oil.
 Carefully place kofta balls into sauce.
 Heat a little oil in a separate frying pan over medium heat, add
 mustard seeds and curry leaves.  When mustard seeds stop bursting,
 add oil into the curry.  You may want to partially cover pan to
 prevent seeds from popping grease all over your kitchen.
 If you use non-fat yogurt, there is only 2 T oil in the whole dish!