Bhavna
Falafel curry? You must be thinking what kind of combination is this? See what happens when all-time favorite falafel gets dunked into the creamy curry sauce.
It’s fusion…one time, I had some left over falafel and tried with my curried gravy and voyla, it tasted amazing!
Deliciously spicy, this Indian style Falafel curry recipe makes a great alternative to a Vegetable, Malai(made with paneer – Indian cottage cheese) or Daal(lentil) Kofta Curries. This curry can be easily customized to gluten free and vegan as well.
Usually kofta(balls) are fried to make Kofta curries but in this recipe, I am going to show you baked balls.
This curry goes well with Naan and rice.
To prepare Falafel curry, first, I make baked falafel using boiled chickpeas(garbanzo beans), not dry soaked beans. When I want to fry falafel, I start with dry soaked beans but for baking purpose, boiled, drained chickpeas work great.
You will need following ingredients to prepare falafel
1 15-ounce cans chickpeas or homemade boiled, drained chickpeas can be used
1/2 onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup chopped)
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 to 1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoons coriander if available
Salt pepper to taste
1 teaspoons baking powder, if desired
1/8 cup all-purpose flour, optional for binding. I prefer to use almond meal or flax meal or coconut flour even works great for binding.
I then use food processor to grind the coarse mixture.
Prepare balls and bake in the oven or use cake pop maker.
I prepare the gravy as usual I prepare for my all Indian curries.
You will need following ingredients to prepare curry gravy.
2 Onions , finely chopped
4 Tomatoes , pureed, or chop fine and use immersion blender later to prepare gravy
1 teaspoon jeera (Caraway)
1 1/2 tablespoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
1 tablespoon Coriander Powder
1 teaspoon Garam masala powder
Salt , to taste
1 tablespoon Butter , or oil
1 tablespoon Fresh cream , reserve 2 teaspoons for garnish
Water , as required
Coriander leaves (Dhania) , as required for garnish
Baked Falafel Curry
Ingredients
For Koftas (Falafel Balls):
- 1 15- ounce cans chickpeas or homemade boiled drained chickpeas can be used
- ½ onion roughly chopped (about 1 cup chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- ¼ to ½ cup loosely packed cilantro
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoons coriander if available
- Salt pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoons baking powder if desired
- ⅛ cup all-purpose flour optional for binding. I prefer to use almond meal or flax meal or coconut flour even works great for binding.
For Curry Gravy:
- 2 Onions finely chopped
- 4 Tomatoes pureed, or chop fine and use immersion blender later to prepare gravy
- 1 teaspoon jeera Caraway
- 1 ½ tablespoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1 tablespoon Coriander Powder
- 1 teaspoon Garam masala powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon Butter or oil
- 1 tablespoon Fresh cream reserve 2 teaspoons for garnish
- Water as required
- Coriander leaves Dhania , as required for garnish
Instructions
To prepare Falafel:
- Add all falafel ingredients into the food processor and pulse few times to get coarse textured mixture.
- Form the mixture into small balls.
- Now you can bake the balls into the preheated oven at 375F for about 15 minutes or till desired result.
- I bake the balls in to my cake pop maker. Grease the cake pop maker with oil, and bake the balls for about 15 minutes. When done, open the cake pop maker but do not try to take out the balls immediately. Let them cool slightly in to the cake pop maker and then removed them safely.
To prepare the Curry Gravy:
- To prepare the curry, first warm some oil or butter in a pan. Add the shahi jeera and fry for a minute. Next add the finely chopped onions and fry them till translucent. Add the tomato puree and cook it together until the puree thickens and begins to leave the sides of the pan.
- At this stage, add all the spice powders and mix well. Then add water as required and bring the curry to boil.
- Turn the heat down, add the cream, mix well and finally add the fried kofta balls. Simmer on low heat for about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, garnish the curry with the reserved cream and fresh coriander leaves. Serve the Cauliflower and Paneer Kofta Curry with Naan, Paratha, Rice for a perfect, comforting meal.
