Palak Kofta

Winter is here and so is the best time to have greens. Amma always tells us that fresh and best greens are available in winter and it is the best time to prepare them as not only are they nutritious but also take lesser preparation time. Spinach koftas or palak kofta is an ideal recipe for a lazy winter sunday afternoon lunch when the mood is to have something crispy yet healthy.

The recipe and pictures are contributed by Nanditha Reddy. Thank you Nanditha.

Preparation time: 35-45 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Medium sized Potatoes (aloo) 3

Tomatoes 4

Onion (ullipaya)3

Carrot 1

Bunches of Spinach (Palak/Palakura) 4

Green Chillies 4

A heaped tablespoon of corn flour 1tsp

Sandwich bread slices 2

Refined cooking oil 1cup

Cashewnuts 10

Chilli powder 1tsp

Ginger paste/ginger 1tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

Koftas:

Boil, peel and mash the potatoes. Grate the carrot, finely chop the spinach and set aside.

To the mashed potatoes, add the grated carrot, 1 bunch spinach chopped, 2 bread slices,1 finely chopped green chilly, salt and a heaped tbsp of corn flour. Mix well and make average sized balls of the

mixture.

Deep fry the balls in pre heated oil to make koftas and set aside.

Spinach gravy:

Take 4 tsps oil in a kadai/pan(bandli/mookudu). Add finely chopped onions and green chillies and fry till golden brown.Add cashew nuts and fry for half a min.

Add a tsp of ginger paste or ginger flakes as available, 1 tsp red chilly powder, chopped spinach,tomatoes and salt to taste. Leave to cook for 4 mins.

Grind adding water if required ( the tomatoes and spinach already are rich in water content and we generally don’t need to add more water.) into a liquefied gravy.

Add the koftas just before serving. Crispy and yummy palak koftas are ready. Palak kofta is a good rice/Indian bread supplement. Garnish with fresh cream to add flavor.