Cabbage kofta curry

I like my cabbage sabzi crunchy but the usual recipe seemed tiresome last night so I thought I'd try something different. This preparation was slightly more time consuming than my standard recipe but resulted in a creamy curry with melt-in-your-mouth koftas. I looked at a few different recipes online but mainly took inspiration from this one. I tweaked it some (and didn't measure any of the ingredients) so I thought I'd jot it down before I forget what I did.

Ingredients

For koftas:

1/2 head cabbage (it was medium-large in size) shredded

1/4 cup channa dal (also called Bengal gram dal) boiled; about 80% cooked

1/2 tsp chilli powder (or to taste) (Indian chilli powder is more like cayenne pepper powder)

2 tsp+ 4tsp besan flour (chickpea flour)

salt

oil for frying

For curry:

1 medium-sized onion finely chopped

1/2" fresh ginger minced ( I smashed it with the garlic with my motar & pestle after mincing)

2-3 cloves of garlic minced ( I smashed it with the ginger with my motar & pestle after mincing)

1/2 tsp cornflour (optional) as a thickener. You could used ground cashew nuts, but I didn't have any at hand.

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)

1 1/2 tsp corriander powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 to 3/4 cup yogurt beaten well

1/2 tsp garam masala (I made my own)

1 tsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

fresh corriander leaves (cilantro) (I didn't have any at hand, but will add some the next time)

oil for cooking

salt

To make koftas:

• Mix cabbage and channa dal and cook well together. I used my trusty pressure cooker.
• Drain the water well (reserving liquid) using muslin.
• Mash the mixture; add chilli powder, 2 tsp besan flour and salt. It might release more liquid at this point because of the salt, so squeeze the liquid out again, if need be.
• Make small balls; roll in remaining besan flour; fry till golden brown; drain and keep aside. I didn't roll the initial batch in additional flour and they fell apart while frying. You could use egg, I suppose. But rolling the balls in extra besan flour before frying worked remarkably well.

To make curry:

• Heat oil in pan; add cumin seeds; wait 30 seconds.
• Add onions and fry till golden.
• Add ginger+garlic and fry till raw smell disappears.
• Add turmeric, chilli powder, corriander powder, cumin powder and fry till raw spice smell disappears. Be careful not to burn the masala. Add a little bit of reserved liquid to keep from burning. I added a bit of cornflour at this point to thicken it a bit but I may leave it out the next time.
• Add yogurt; cook for a minute; add reserved liquid; bring to a boil.
• Turn flame to low; add garam masala; simmer for a few minutes.
• Crush kasuri methi by rubbing it between your palms and add to curry.
• Once the consistency of the curry is to your liking, gently add the koftas, garnish with chopped corriander leaves.
• Serve hot with naan, rice, roti.

Like I said before, I didn't measure any of the ingredients while making it so these are just approximations of what I think I added! The ingredients list is long but the recipe isn't necessarily complicated. I promise.

If you try making it, let me know how it turns out. Also, if you have questions, feel free to email me.