i got so excited about having 3 days at home alone - just me and Zollie relaxing and not having to put up with anyone else. unfortunately about 6 hours into our mini holiday, my brother arrived, announcing that he was moving back several days early from housesitting... it kind of worked out okay because we got to spend a couple of days playing super mario on the wii!
soon as he left to visit his girlfriend i got busy cooking and made some kofta balls and rice pilaf. definitely one of my favourite meals, but i had to hide the left overs (i made enough for about 6 hearty meals) in the fridge and freezer so brother would not find them. it takes a fair amount of time and effort to cook but is definitely worth it - and great for making in big batches and freezing for those nights that i am on the late shift and dont feel like cooking something in the middle of the night. delicious, healthy and comforting - the recipes i use are adapted from "a higher taste" which is a hare krishna cookbook that i bought at a music festival. side note - hare krishnas make fantastic organic vegetarian soap too so if you have the opportunity, buy some soap and one of their 'meal deals' (which is like $10 for a huge plate of kofta balls, rice, vegetable curry, and halva). so delicious!
also went back to gyo and had the japanese vegetable pancake and tempura icecream again - was hesitant that it might have just been a first time thing but again the meal was amazing. unfortunately haven't eaten out much lately, life has been too busy and i have been doing too many late shifts. though i am looking forward to going back to wayne and adele's garden of eating at some point in the very near future, just thinking about their menu makes my mouth water! i would also like to go to osman's again and try to get my coffee grounds read. a friend and i heard that they did tea leaf reading, so we thought we would go and give it a try, so we organised it then decided we should probably call to make sure. turned out that it was coffee grounds not tea leaves, and they only did it on nights when the guy was there, not in the afternoon like we had planned to go. so we went on jeremy's birthday and the guy told our waitress he would only do one per table, so we decided that because it had been her idea, my friend would get it done first. it was really interesting, jeremy had to go to the bar so that he wouldn't laugh the whole way through but what they told my friend was pretty true and he got her to make a wish then later told her what her wish was and that it would come true which was pretty cool. so then we decided to go back so that i could have a turn, and they brought me my coffee and i drank it (im not usually a coffee person, i am definitely a tea drinker - and turkish coffee is so strong, i wasn't going to sleep any time soon after that) and we sat there. and sat there. for ages and ages until our waitress came back and said 'oh hasn't he been over yet, i'll come and get him'. then she returned to tell us that he has since changed his story from 'one per table' to 'one per night' in the whole restaurant. so i missed out and we still had to pay for the coffees that we never would have gotten otherwise. was a bit frustrating, but hopefully it will happen the next time we go back.
anyway, thats enough of my ranting! see below for kofta recipes and pictures.
much love,
frankie.pleure
Spicy Kofta Balls and Pilaf with Pine Nuts
kofta ingredients
1.5 cups purple cabbage, grated
1.5 cups cauliflour, grated
1 cup broccoli, grated
1 small red chili, finely chopped (optional)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 large onion, finely diced
1 cup besan (chickpea) flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tbsp salt
pepper to taste
oil for deep frying
kofta sauce ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
2 bay leaves
1/2 large onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
4 cups of finely chopped tinned tomatoes
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
handful fresh basil
pepper to taste
pilaf ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 small red chili, finely chopped (optional)
1 1/2 cups basmati rice
4 whole cloves
2.5cm cube ginger, crushed
1 tsp orange zest
3 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup pine nuts
3 stalks fresh thyme
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup currants
handful fresh parsley
TIP: chop all ingredients before beginning so that the cooking process can go as quickly as possible
kofta sauce
in pan heat olive oil, butter then add bay leaves
fry onions and garlic until translucent
add tomatoes until boiling then reduce to a simmer and cover
finely chop fresh basil
stir through basil, salt, sugar, and pepper and leave over very low heat while you prepare the kofta
kofta balls
heat oil to medium-high temperature in large saucepan or wok, at least 5cm deep
mix together cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, chili, onion, and garlic
add in besan flour, rice flour, cumin, garam masala, cayenne, salt, and pepper then mix together with hands to form a wet dough
roll dough into 2.5cm balls and deep fry a few at a time for approx 8 minutes until golden brown and cooked through, remove from heat and drain on paper towels then repeat until all the kofta are cooked, making sure that the oil reheats between batches
rice pilaf
pre-heat oven to 180C then toast pine nuts in a single layer on an oven tray with a sprinkle of salt for 5-8 minutes until just golden
heat oil and butter in frypan over medium-high, add bay leaves and cumin seeds until aromatic, then fry off onions, garlic and chili until translucent
add rice and fry until rice is translucent
add ginger, cloves, thyme, orange zest, and vegetable stock and reduce to simmer
cover and simmer for 20 minutes without stirring until rice is tender and stock is absorbed
pick out cloves and thyme (they should be on top of the rice if you haven't stirred it) and mix through toasted pine nuts, salt, pepper, currants and roughly chopped parsley
pour sauce over kofta and let soak for a few minutes then enjoy!
it may seem like an awful lot of effort but it really is worth it for such a delicious meal.
