If you thought these are eggs in some green gravy - you would be surprised to know that they are just toor dal with spinach :). Yday, i had fresh bunch of baby spinach that I wanted to make. MIL wanted dal. Hubby said he wanted Kofta! what do I do? and Ya i dint like to cook for a long while! Result, I came up with Toor Dal Kofta in Spinach sauce which will be my entry for Linda's JFI Toor Dal.

These two cooked with no added fat ( these Koftas are steamed not fried ), you have a complete healthy meal. This is one Kofta I can bite into with a smile, without worrying about the extra 15min at Gym.

  • Cook time:
  • Prep time:
  • Serves: 4 people
Ingredients
  • For Spinach Sauce
  • a bunch of spinach (as per ur req!I used approx amt.)
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp sugar and salt to taste
  • To be ground into a paste
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
  • grated 25mm ginger
  • 1 green chili or as per taste
  • 2 tbsp grated coconut
  • 1 tbsp poppy seeds
  • 1 tbsp cashew nuts
  • 1 tsp aniseed
  • For the Koftas
  • 1 cup toor dal ( yellow lentil ), soaked in warm water for minimum 30min
  • 1 medium onion
  • grated ginger
  • some coriander leaves
Method
1.

Drain the toor dal well.

2.

Saute the onions,ginger and chilly in little oil ( Pam Spray should do ) with salt.

3.

This step is not necc. but I find raw onions here little sharp and strong,so saute it first. You can skip this step and go to next straightaway.Grind coriander leaves, onions,ginger with Toor dal with no water. It should be a coarse paste with salt, if not added before.

4.

Make balls out of them and steam in a cooker. Make sure not to over steam since it can get v hard. Cool and keep aside.Wash the spinach and blanch them in water for 2-3 min. Liquidise it in a blender.Heat some olive oil in a pan and add the ground paste to it. Cook for a while.

5.

Add the spinach along with curd,salt and sugar. Simmer for 5-8 min.

6.

Place the steamed balls in a plate

7. and pour the gravy on top.

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2 Member Reviews

By Deepali on Mar 24, 2011

I had a bunch of spinach which I wanted to use. My husband doesn't like palak paneer, aloo palak etc. He only likes spinach in 'Bhurji' with paneer. And I didn't want to have bhurji again. Also, my son is making me go through terrible two's right now so I wanted something which was easy & quick to cook. This recipe was perfect.

Though I made slight changes simply because I didn't have some ingredients for paste, like coconut, poppy seeds & cashew nuts. I made a 'tadka' of asafoetida, aniseed & added, ginger-garlic paste & chilli powder to it.

Rest of the recipe I followed was same. At the time of serving I added about 1tsp of leftover cream for garnishing on top. My husband loved it, he kept asking me what is it, how did I make it. :)

I'm sure the recipe would have turned out even more tastier if I had added coconut & cashews. Surely next time. :)

By Kamalpreet on Nov 7, 2010

Thanks for the recipe. i tried it for a pot luck party on diwali and it turned out really yummy. everyone loved it :-)... the only variation i made was that  I added mint both to the gravy and the koftas to give extra flavour. 

22 Comments

By Poonam on Apr 18, 2011

Looks Fabulous I am gonna try it today. I love ure site.....Yummmulicious recipies

By geetha on Dec 9, 2010

hi, this looks creative.we used to say this is parrupu urundai kulambu,the sauce will be tamrind instead of spinach.yours is quite short method. very nice.

By Mr. Zucchini on Dec 7, 2010

Looks wonderful! Serves how many people?

This serves about 3-4 ppl :)

By caroline on Jun 20, 2010

i love this recipe! Husband loved it the first time I made it, and today is the second time. (i went ahead and tried it with the orange and black lentils - not as gorgeous as the ones in your photo so i'll wait to until i can find yellow lentils - today i'm making it with green ones :) They're in the steamer right now...mmmmmmmmmmmm... can't wait to gobble them up!! :lol: :lol:

By caroline on Apr 29, 2010

Is it okay if i use black and orange lentils? To my dismay i'm out of yellow. My stomach immediately responded to the photo by yelling to my brain that i had to make this today.

By nisha on Oct 28, 2009

Hi, Luvd your recipe, absolutely no fat n quite nutritious. Can u tell me how long the koftas to be steamed? and whether the koftas put in gravy for long will become soggy? or u need to put the koftas just b4 serving?

Hi Nisha, The time for the koftas varies as per the size. Instead of pressure cooker, use steamer - makes it easy to check. Give it say about 5-8 minutes. Poke the koftas with a fork or skewer. The middle of the koftas should be moist but the skewer should be clean. Koftas in general when made are better off added few minutes before serving - add these koftas say about 10 minutes before serving. That gives it enough time to soak up the flavors. Hope this helps -- DK

By madhuri on Aug 19, 2009

wow.... creative recipe.Never seen or heard before... koftas with toor dal!!! wow........But before that let me try your soya koftas first and give my comments on it!!! Thanks dhivya!! love your blog!!

By Dhivya Karthik on Nov 14, 2007

Thank u raks..am glad u liked it :)

Thank U Pushpa :) :)

Sure do try Sudha :)

:) Thanks Linda! Its all my pleasure - really :)

Thank U Madhu :)

Thank U Kribha...ya they were happy..so was I - dint have to slog much ;)

Thanks Siri :)

Thanks Kitchen Scientist - Such charts only make me sit up and take notice..which is why I like to do the same favour for all wonderful bloggers around! :)

Thank U bharathy..am so glad u like it :)

Thank u Asha..urs will be a bombastic entry am sure..as always! U rock girl :)

Hi Cynthia - was the comment to Linda or to me ;) either way am guessing U liked the recipe - thank u :) :)

Thanks TBC :)

Thank U sagari :)

Hey remya - u made my day yaar! what more do I need! :) so chweet of u to say that!

By remya on Nov 13, 2007

Thats a lovely and creative one....yeaa ur a gud wife n GIL :-)its really very nice to satisfy both at atime....wanna try this healthy dish..

By sagari on Nov 12, 2007

thanks for the lovely and veryyyy innovative recipe

By TBC on Nov 11, 2007

That is so creative! Looks great.

By Cynthia on Nov 11, 2007

Linda, I'm hungry looking at this pic. Going to see what I can find in the kitchen :)

By Asha on Nov 11, 2007

I am planning to make a similar too, one of those Tamil dishes. Your's looks yum, nutritions too. Great entry for Linda!:))

By Bharathy on Nov 11, 2007

Nice creative entry,girl :)...healthy too...and you satisfied the most important members at home too :)...love the way you have columned the recipe ing..:)

By A kitchen scientist & a white rat hubby!!! on Nov 11, 2007

lovely entry, ans thanks for putting up the nutri-value chart for broccoli, was never a fan of it, but now, i think its hi time that i give it a try, thanks for sharing

By Siri on Nov 10, 2007

A definite bookmark Dhivya.. the gravy with the koftas look soo appeasing.. just love the recipe.. will try it soon for sure..:))

By Kribha on Nov 10, 2007

This is so unique and creative. Surely is a smart and neat idea to satisfy both your hubby and MIL.

By Madhu on Nov 10, 2007

Hey Divya very creative and fabulous and healthy entry for JFI.

By Linda on Nov 10, 2007

Hi Dhivya,

I like the story and I love the koftas in spinach sauce!! This is a wonderful entry for JFI, not to mention a wonderful dinner any day :) Thanks so much for participating!

By sudha on Nov 10, 2007

Looks Delicious !
I recently used Baked Tofu instead of Panneer with Palak.
next time i will try this.

~Sudha(Redmond)

By Puspha on Nov 10, 2007

Marvellous. Thatz a creative dish.

By RAKS KITCHEN on Nov 10, 2007

Wow...mouthwatering recipe Dhivya...!!Nice step by step presentation and nice entry...:))