Malai Kofta

When Chris and I were talking about giving raw foods a try, we immediately thought of Indian food and would eating raw mean we couldn’t eat Indian?  Like I’ve mentioned before, I didn’t want to start restricting us from eating our favorite foods, but thanks to Google, Chris found a website full of raw Indian recipes!  Our first try was the Malai Kofta, our favorite “real” Indian dish.  I was a little leary of the recipe since it called for two bananas and I don’t like banana – so Chris cut it back to just one for me since I wanted to give it a try anyway.  When I tried the sauce before the balls where done, I still wasn’t sure if I’d like it, but once the whole dish was put together, it was actually very good.  My sensitivity to the banana flavor had subsided some with all the other great flavors and I really enjoyed this.  The shredded cabbage was a fantastic alternative to rice and just as satisfying.  I want to have this dish again and perhaps try replacing the banana with avocado – but it really was delicious!

Here are side-by-side photos of our raw Malai Kofta and a traditional cooked dish…

Malai Kofta Raw (above) & Cooked (below)

Raw Malai Kofta – recipe courtesy of Roshi’s Raw Lifestyle

Ingredients

Curry:
2 bananas (we used 1 since I don’t like banana)
1 tomato
1 tbsp coconut oil (we used veggie oil…not raw, but all we had)
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 pinches cinammon
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp salt
red chili powder (to taste)
1 handful cashews (we used pumpkin seeds)
about 1/2 cup water

Koftas:
1 1/2 handfuls walnuts
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tsp soy sauce
1 large soft date

Rice:
shredded cabbage (enough to make a “rice” base)

Directions

Place bananas, tomatoes, and oil into food processor and mix until smooth.  Next add spices and nuts.  Depending on the thickness of the curry, add water until it reaches the desired consistency.  Taste a little and see if you’d like it a little spicier (if so, add equal amounts coriander, cumin, garam masala).   To make the koftas, pulse walnuts, cumin, coriander, and soy sauce in food processor until walnuts are in small pieces.  Mash walnut mixture together with dates by hand, then roll the mixture into little balls.

To serve:  Places koftas on plate and cover with sauce.  For “rice,” use shredded cabbage.