Don’t you think we Indians have a strange relationship with banana? Although it should not come as a surprise, as India is believed to be the place of origin of this ancient fruit and so far, India is the largest consumer of banana in the world.
Banana is one of those fruits in India which is grown throughout the year. In fact, as I travelled from one place to another, banana had always been one of the common factors binding all the places. The best way to experience the fact of banana being the common factor in India, is travelling by a train covering a long distance and witnessing bunch of bananas hanging in all tea stalls, in whichever station the train stops. Thus, irrespective of stark difference in food menu owing to our varied culture, the banana factor is one thing that does not change.
Our comfort level with banana can also be realised through the fact that our association with this fruit starts from our infancy. For that matter, because of its natural sweetness and soft texture, they are the obvious choice for most of the parents for being the first fruit or being one of the first solid food to be introduced to the babies. Also, because of its abundance and our acquaintance with banana, we Indians have learnt to utilise almost all the parts of bananas even in multiple stages. From banana leaf to banana stem to unripe bananas to ripe bananas, we Indians have put the entire existence of banana to good use. As a matter of fact, our old and close association with banana can also be understood from the mention of banana in oldest scriptures and the importance of banana plant and banana in religious ceremonies and cultural functions.
And thus, when last week instead of ripe bananas the delivery boy handed me a bunch of unripe bananas, I did not hesitate for a second and made my way for ‘Kach Kolar Kofta Torkari Or Green Banana Kofta Curry’. A very common dish among Bengalis, the dish ‘Kach Kolar Kofta Torkari Or Green Banana Kofta Curry’ is considered to be a vegetarian delicacy reserved for special occasions.
Although vegetarian, fuss free and cooked with least ingredients, the dish ‘Kach Kolar Kofta Torkari Or Green Banana Kofta Curry’ is capable to give any non-vegetarian dish a good run for money, and can provide a good and perennial reason to anyone to remain vegetarian for entire life.
Here is the step-by-step recipe for Kach Kolar Kofta Torkari Or Green Banana Kofta Curry.
Click here and check out more curry recipes.
Recipe: Kach Kolar Kofta Torkari Or Green Banana Kofta Curry
Preparation Time: Around 23 minutes Pressure Cooking Time: 6 minutes Cooking & Frying Time: Around 1 hour (Cooking and frying have been done simultaneously) Equipment Used: Chopping Board, knife, peeler, pressure cooker, bowls, pan, wok, spatula, deep frying strainer, measuring spoons and measuring cups Yield: Serves 5-6 bowls
Ingredients:
- 2 unripe bananas
- 4 potatoes
- 10 garlic cloves
- 1 big onion
- 1 tomato
- 2 teaspoon salt
- ½ tablespoon coconut powder
- (1.5 inch X 0.5 inch X 1 inch) + (1.75 inch X 0.75 inch X 0.25 inch) ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ajwain or carom seeds
- 1/8 cup aata or whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup refined oil
- 4 tablespoon mustard oil
- 1 red chilli
- 1 bay leaf
- 6-8 cinnamon pieces of around 0.75 cm
- ¾ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ + ½ teaspoon roasted jeera powder or roasted cumin powder
- ½ + ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- 1 green chilli
- 3 cups water and water to pressure cook vegetables
- 1 teaspoon ghee or clarified butter
Method:
- Wash and cut the unripe bananas (3 pieces for each banana)
- Clean, peel and cut a potato to 3-4 pieces
- Pressure cook the unripe banana pieces along with potato pieces till 1 whistle
- In the meantime, peel and chop the garlic cloves, slice the onion, clean, peel and cut the potatoes to big wedges and cut the tomato to dices
- Take out the pressure cooked unripe banana pieces and potato pieces from pressure cooker as pressure releases
- Peel and mash the banana along with potato in a bowl while adding ½ teaspoon salt, coconut powder, grated ginger (1.5 inch X 0.5 inch X 1 inch) and ajwain
- Add the flour powder after vegetables are mashed properly
- Now heat a pan and heat refined oil in the pan once the pan is hot
- Take out little by little mashed unripe banana and potato mix and roll the mashed vegetables into small balls (around the size of a small lemon), and fry the mashed vegetable balls in the pan while turning and flipping the balls so that they cook evenly from all sides. Switch off the flame once the balls are fried
- Simultaneously heat another pan or wok. Heat mustard oil in wok, when the wok is hot
- Break a red chilli and temper the oil with cinnamon sticks
- Sauté the chopped garlic. Add the sliced onion and fry the onion once garlic pieces are sauteed
- Add the diced tomato pieces once the onion pieces turn translucent
- Once the tomato pieces are tender, add the potato wedges followed by ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon sugar, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon jeera powder and ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- Grate (1.75 inch X 0.75 inch X 0.25 inch) ginger and slit a green chill into the wok
- Stir and mix the ingredients. Cover the pan and let the potatoes cook on low flame
- Uncover the pan after few minutes and check if the potato pieces are cooked. Add 3 cups water in the wok if the potato pieces are cooked
- Cook till you get the desired consistency of gravy while tasting and adjusting salt and sugar. I have added another 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon sugar
- Add the fried vegetable balls in the curry as you acquire the desired consistency of the curry
- Switch off the flame and spread 1 teaspoon ghee on the curry
Wash and cut the unripe bananas.
Clean, peel and cut a potato.
Pressure cook the unripe banana pieces along with potato pieces.
In the meantime, peel and chop the garlic cloves, slice the onion, clean, peel and cut the potatoes to big wedges and cut the tomato to dices
Take out the pressure cooked unripe banana pieces and potato pieces from pressure cooker as pressure releases.
Peel and mash the banana along with potato in a bowl while adding salt, coconut powder, grated ginger and ajwain.
Add the flour powder after vegetables are mashed properly.
Heat a pan and heat refined oil in the pan once the pan is hot.
Take out little by little mashed unripe banana and potato mix and roll the mashed vegetables into small balls.
Fry the mashed vegetable balls in the pan while turning and flipping the balls so that they cook evenly from all sides. Switch off the flame once the balls are fried.
Simultaneously heat mustard oil in another wok, when the wok is hot.
Break a red chilli and temper the oil with a bay leaf and cinnamon sticks.
Sauté the chopped garlic and fry the sliced onion.
Add the diced tomato pieces once the onion pieces turn translucent.
Add the potato wedges followed by ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon sugar, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon jeera powder and ½ teaspoon garam masala powder grated ginger and slit a green chill into the wok.
Stir and mix the ingredients. Cover the pan and let the potatoes cook on low flame.
Uncover the pan and add 3 cups water in the wok if the potato pieces are cooked.
Cook till you get the desired consistency of gravy while tasting and adjusting salt and sugar.
Add the fried vegetable balls in the curry .
Switch off the flame and spread 1 teaspoon ghee on the curry.
Tips:
- Instead of whole wheat flour, you can also use Maida or all-purpose flour
- You can add more aata or whole wheat flour if you like the vegetable balls to be more crispy. I like my kofta or vegetable balls little soft
- At couple of times the dish demands multi-tasking. It is advisable to keep the pan and cook the dish on low flame
- I have added another ½ teaspoon jeera powder and ½ teaspoon garam masala powder, as the aroma of tomato was overpowering the dish. You can skip the same if your curry tastes fine
