
कटहल के कोफ्ते/ कटहल कोफ्ता करी
Do you pass by, ignoring the vendor selling the jackfruit or kathal b’cause very boring and uninteresting looking fruit does not attract you to buy it? But wait, this fruit deserves to be transformed into yummiest of curries and biryanis. Well said that “don’t judge the book by its cover”. This versatile fruit, both ripe and unripe makes several sweet and savoury dishes. The ripe one is eaten as a fruit which tastes similar to the apples, figs and mulberry. This is one of the ingredients which is known as the vegan meat because of its meaty texture

I occasionally cook jackfruit curry or kathal masala with the raw fruit but this time wanted to cook something different, so gave a try on kathal kofta curry (कटहल के कोफ्ते). For this dish, I made the deep fried fritters with boiled kathal and chana dal and dropped into a rich gravy of onion, tomatoes and some aromatics. This extraordinary dish is now a winner in my family. The cooking procedure is undoubtedly a task but as far as the end result is concerned, this dish is a win! Win!

Preparation time – 10 minutes
Cooking time – 60 minutes (boiling+ resting+frying+ making gravy)
Served – 4
Course – Main
Author – Bharti Dhawan
INGREDIENTS WHILE BOILING KATHAL/JACKFRUIT
• Raw Kathal/Jackfruit – 400 gms (cut into cubes) Though vendors peel and cut jackfruit for you nowadays but if you are cutting, grease your hands with mustard oil as this is quite sticky
• Chana dal – 100 gms (washed and soaked for 2 hrs)
• Water – 1 glassful
• Cinemon stick/dalacheeni – 1
• Green cardamom – 2-3
• Salt – 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
INGREDIENTS FOR KATHAL KOFTA
• Boiled jackfruit and Chana dal
• Green chillies – 1-2
• Besan/chickpea flour – 2 tbsp
• Cumin seeds/jeera – 1 tsp
• Carom seeds/ajwain – 1 tsp
• Red chilly powder – 1 tsp
• Aamchoor/dry mango powder – 1 tsp
• Oil for deep frying
INGREDIENTS FOR GRAVY
• Coarsely Chopped onions – 4 medium sized
• Coarsely chopped tomatoes – 4-5 medium sized
• Chopped ginger – 1-inch piece
• Garlic cloves – 4-5
• Cashew nuts (whole or tukda) – 6-8
• Salt – 2 tsp
• Red chilly powder – 2 tsp
• Coriander powder – 2 tsp
• Garam masala – 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
• Water for gravy – 3 cups or to your need
STEP BY STEP
1- take a pressure cooker and add all the ingredients written under BOILING KOFTA and give 4-5 whistles at medium flame

2- Switch off the flame and let the cooker cool down completely. Take out all the whole spices and transfer the boiled kathal, green chillies and chana dal to the blender and blend without water

3- Next, add all the ingredients mentioned under the name of Kathal Kofta to this paste except oil. Mix well everything and keep in the fridge for 30 minutes. The mix will set to make balls. Wet your hands and roll the mix into balls

- If needed add little more besan/chickpea flour to bind

4- Heat oil in a kadahi and fry each kathal ball or kofta at low-medium heat to golden brown

5- Keep the koftas aside and prepare for the gravy.

6- Take another pan or kadahi and add oil. When heated add bay leaves and whole red chillies. Add chopped onions, garlic and ginger. Brown the onions by bhunowing

7- Add all the powdered spices and stir. Add chopped tomatoes and then salt and bhunow the masala until tomatoes become mushy

8- Add water for the gravy and let it boil. Add cashew nuts and cook for 3-4 minutes. Switch off the flame now

9- Let the masala cool down and take out bay leaves now. Blend the masala well

10- sieve the masala in a seperate pan to get a silky gravy

11- Add koftas to the gravy just before serving to prevent them from breaking as these are too soft. Garnish the dish with some fresh coriander leaves and chopped nuts. Serve yummy kathal kofta curry with roti or ajwain parantha and cucumber raita

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