Green Banana Koftas with Curry Sauce is a favorite among the north Indian treats

Ingredients for Kofta’s

• 2 Raw Green bananas
• 1/2 cup (optional) I did not use the cheese Cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup Finely Chopped onion
• 1 Tsp Grated ginger
• 1 tsp Chopped green chili (or more) I used red chilies as had no green.
• 1 Tsp Coriander powder
• 1 Tsp Shahi Garam masala powder
• ½ Tsp Red chili powder (optional)
• 1 Tsp Amchur (dry mango) powder, I used a squeeze of lime juice.
• 1 Tbsp Cornflour (as a binding agent)
• Chopped dry fruits for filling (cashew, walnuts, raisins, pistachio, or dry berries)
• Butter cut into very small cubes
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

this For later use

Method:

1. Slit the top and bottom of the bananas.
2. Pressure cook the bananas with skin on till soft.
3. Peel and mash the bananas add all ingredients except nuts, raisins, butter, and oil.
4. Mash everything nicely to make a dough.
5. It’s better to use your finger to make dough.
6. Make equal-sized balls out of the dough.
7. Take one ball on your palm and make a hole in the middle with your finger.
8. Fill the hole with dry fruits and a butter cube in it.
9. Close the hole and reshape it like a small oval.
10. Repeat and make such ovals out of the dough.
11. Sprinkle, little cornflour over it, and keep aside.
12. In a deep wok add enough oil for deep frying the koftas in batches of 3-4.
13. Deep fry in medium flame till brown.
14. Do not fry in high flame otherwise, the koftas will be browned from outside, and inside it will remain undercooked.
15. As this was the first time I had made these I didn’t make Reena’s curry sauce but I had a small pot of sauce in my freezer which I defrosted and used with the Koftas.
16. Purely because I didn’t know if we would like them.
17. They were amazing, well, the menfolk queried the lack of meat but they are such carnivores.
18. They are lovely eaten as a snack and also with the curry sauce, which I will make next time.
19. As you can see from the original list of ingredients I use red chili instead of green and lime juice instead of mango powder and no cottage cheese.
20. I was going to use feta cheese instead but thought I would try them without.
21. The mix of filling for the centers I used was pistachios, walnuts, and raisins chopped finely.

Prepared, tried and tested by Carol Taylor