Today I tried to cook vegan meatball, an Indian restaurant dish called Malai Kofta. Malai means cream, and Kofta is meatball. I made a vegan version without cream, so strictly speaking, it’s not Malai either, but who cares?
My Curry Mom cooks Malai Kofta sometimes, using bottle gourd as main ingredient. Some people use paneer (Indian cottage cheese), some even use bananas. Today, I used chickpea with potato, served with a rich tomato masala base. Generally, Malai Kofta is deep fried so to make it crispy. Instead of frying, I baked them to make it healthier.
Spiced Chickpea Vegan Meatball (Vegan Kofta) Recipe
Vegan meatball is easy to make—blend soaked chickpeas with potatoes, nuts and spices, then shape round and bake. Goes really well with spiced tomato sauce.
Ingredients
Makes 10 pcs Ø3 cm vegan meatball
- 100 g dried chickpea, soaked overnight
- 1 (100 g) potato, diced
- 25 g nuts (almond, cashew…), roughly chopped
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp cumin powder
- ¼ tsp chilli powder
- 1 ½ tbsp flour
- ½ tbsp cornflour (corn starch)
For the sauce
- ½ onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ thumb-sized ginger, minced
- 1 bay leaf
- 150 g tinned tomato
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ¼ tsp cumin powder
- ¼ tsp coriander powder
- 50 ml cooked chickpea water
- ¼ tsp salt
How to Make
For the vegan meatball
- Place the soaked chickpea in a pressure cooker and cook with high pressure for about 10 minutes. Save the liquid for later use. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 210ºC.
- Whiz everything in a blender, then divide into 10 portions and shape round.
- Bake the meatballs for 18-20 minutes, or until they are cooked through. You can also shallow-fry or deep-fry them.
For the sauce
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan, fry the bay leaf, cumin seeds and coriander seeds until fragrant. Then add the garlic, ginger and onions to cook, until the onions turn translucent.
- Add all the spices into the pan and cook for a few minutes. Then add the tinned tomatoes and salt, simmer for 15 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender to whiz the sauce to your preferred consistency.
- Combine the vegan meatballs with the sauce and serve.
