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Baked Cauliflower Veggie Balls in spiced tomato onion sauce. Cauliflower Kofta Curry. Vegan Indian Recipe. Soy-free, easily made gluten-free. Free of dairy, egg, corn, soy.
There are several types of Kofta curries. Koftas are balls of meat or veggies or cheese. The richer variety usually has paneer cheese or meat in the balls and cream based curries. The everyday kofta curry versions are vegetable based and can have veggies like cabbage, carrots, potatoes, green beans, cauliflower etc. They can be fried and added to a simple tomato onion sauce or just tomato sauce. This version uses Cauliflower. The koftas and the sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated, then warmed up to serve.
It seems like a veggie ball kind of season. Add shredded potato or jackfruit or vegan cheese shreds to the veggie balls for variation. Use almond or sunflower seeds in the balls instead of cashews. You can also made the koftas with shredded cabbage.
I had one too many kofta recipes (malai kofta, lasooni veggie kofta, cabbage veggie kofta and this cauliflower kofta) to choose from for the cookbook. It quite difficult to narrow down from 175 down to 150 🙂
More fun recipes from the blog!
Spicy Garlic Dal
Chickpea Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Smoky Tomato Sauce
Jackfruit “meatballs”
Mango Curry Tofu
Curried Chickpea Rice One Pot Pilaf
I have been using feedly more and more lately to keep track of all the blogs I want to keep track of. Everything in one place. You can find my feed on feedly here.
Steps:
I used my mini food processor and added everything to it and done within 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, the blended sauce is cooking down.
Still cooking and has some more minutes to go.
Add non dairy milk, Taste and adjust salt and spice. Serve over baked or pan fried koftas.
Cauliflower Kofta Curry. Baked Cauliflower Veggie Balls in Spiced Tomato Onion Sauce. Vegan Recipe
Ingredients
Kofta/balls:
- 1/2 tsp toasted cumin seeds
- 1/4 cup cashews, or use almond slivers or sunflower seeds
- 3 cups cauliflower florets
- 1 hot green chili
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/2 inch knob of ginger, chopped
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1/4 cup chickpea flour
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, or coarsely ground oat flour
- 1/4 cup mashed potatoes , or shredded potato
- 1 tsp organic canola or saffllower oil, optional
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Sauce
- 1 cup chopped red onion
- 2 cups chopped tomato, 2 medium
- 1/2 inch knob of ginger
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp organic canola , or safflower oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cloves
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp or more garam masala
- 1 tsp sriracha , or other hot sauce
- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup almond milk , or coconut milk
- 1/2 cup water
- cilantro and cashew cream for garnish
Instructions
- Kofta/balls:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F / 220ºc. Toast the cumin seeds in a skillet over medium heat until fragrant (2 to 3 minutes),
- Process the cumin seeds and cashews in a food processor or blender to make a coarse mixture. Add all ingredients from cauliflower through garam masala and process. Or you can hand grate the cauliflower and mix in the spices.
- Transfer cauliflower mixture to a bowl. Add chickpea flour, 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, potato, oil, garlic, salt and mix well. Do not let the mixture sit at this point as the cauliflower will start to leak moisture. Add more breadcrumbs if needed. (If the mixture is too dry, let it sit for a few minutes and then shape into balls, If it stays too dry, add 1 flax egg to help bind).
- Shape into an inch size balls or flat discs. Place on parchment lined sheet. Spray or brush oil on the balls. Bake 22-25 minutes or until golden. You can also pan fry the discs, 3 to 5 minutes each side until golden. (you might need more flour or breadcrumbs to make sturdy discs to pan fry. These koftas do better when baked)
- Sauce:
- In a blender, add onion, tomato, garlic, ginger and blend to a puree. Use a few Tbsps of water if needed.
- In a pan, add oil and heat over medium heat. One hot, add the bay leaf and cloves and cook for a few seconds. Add turmeric, garam masala, sriracha and a Tbsp of water. Cook for a minute.
- Add the blended puree and salt mix well. Cook uncovered until the mixture reduces to a thick wet paste, smells roasted and some oil can be seen on the edges. 20 to 25 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add almond milk and water, mix and bring to a boil. about 5 minutes. Cook longer if needed for desired sauce consistency. Taste and adjust salt and spice. Add cayenne if needed. Serve warm koftas, drizzled with enough sauce. Garnish with cilantro or cashew cream. Serve with flatbread or rice.
Notes
Use 1/2 tsp coriander seeds instead of cumin seeds in the kofta balls.
Add 1/2 cup shredded potato, zucchini or vegan cheese to the kofta balls.
Add 1/2 cup of cooked beans like white beans or cooked split peas to the kofta balls. Omit the cashews. Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These are wonderful- I love the mix of the three flavors (the sauce, kofta balls and then the cream sauce on top. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It’s so good!
awesome! thanks
i’m used to the taste and texture of deep-fried koftas soaked in sauce. how does the flavor and texture of baked compare to the deep-fried? thank you.
It depends on the type of koftas. These cauliflower ones will be a bit different when fried, but if you make the malai kofta from my book, you can barely tell the difference (they are panfried). Also most of the deep fried koftas probably use paneer, which is missing. Depending on the recipe i use different nuts as a substitute for the right texture and flavor. You can also deep fry the koftas if you like. Just make sure to bind them really well with some breadcrumbs.
I had all the ingredients ready, but my head cold was too much for cooking. So I sauteed the cauliflower in coconut oil, chopped some extra tomatoes, made the delicious sauce, thinned it a bit with extra coconut milk and water, added a couple cloves, more ginger, and extra heat with cayenne, and combined everything for an incredibly delicious soup that really helped my cold! I can’t wait to make the full recipe, but I’ll be making this soup again, too, if (when) I get another cold. Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing! I’ve just made it and it was delicious. I didn’t have a green chili, so added some chili powder instead. Also substituted the cashew cream with soya yogurt, but it still worked. I will definitely make this again.
the sauce is more like thin soup, is this right? added the 1 c coco milk and 1/2 c water to the reduced tomato onion puree.
i love the koftas and the flavors are all wonderful!!
yes the sauce is on thin side. you an adjust it by cooking longer or adding coconut milk as you did
This was s fantastic recipe. Thank you!!
I was halfway through the recipe prep when I realized I didn’t have a potato! I was able to successfully replace it with a little more chickpea flour and potato starch. The kofta held together beautifully. Thank you for making Indian food so vegan-friendly, Richa! I appreciate you very much.
This sauce was so delicious! I used it in combination with the cabbage kofta from your book — it was so yummy!
I made these tonight! Delicious! Thank you!
Awesome!
This is DELICIOUS!!
so glad you loved it!