Cabbage Kofta Curry-- RCI Punjab

First and foremost, I would like to thank all of you for stopping by and reading my Meme. In my MeMe, I had asked you to guess my sun sign. While nobody got it right, Manasi & Srivalli were pretty close. So who am I? I am a true GEMINI ! If you open Linda Goodman and start reading about 'Gemini Woman', you would know what kind of a character I am ;) of course, I would not vouch for all the negative things in there, they are not true :) Now that the mystery is solved, lets get to the recipe for Cabbage Kofta Curry.
Originally, I was going to make Koftas with Lauki/Gheea (Bottle Gourd), but when I saw Kanchana's recipe for Cabbage kofta, I decided to give it a try. Since, I did not have bottle gourd at hand anyways, but had half a cabbage sitting in the fridge, I got all the more motivated. Now, I used a totally different gravy for this. The gravy that I made is from 'Bawarchi' and it is extremely easy and quick to make, not to mention delicious. This is my entry for RCI- Punjab hosted by Richa of 'As Dear As Salt'.

Ingredients: (makes about 7 koftas)
To make the koftas:
1/2 a shredded cabbage
about 5-6 tbsp besan (chickpea flour)
2-3 green chillies finely chopped
1 tsp ginger minced
1 tsp salt
Oil to fry

For the gravy:
1/2 an onion chopped
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tomato chopped
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
Fresh cream to garnish (optional)

Method:
To make the koftas:
Take the shredded cabbage, add salt to it and keep aside for 10 minutes. Then, squeeze out all the liquid from the cabbage and reserve it. Now add the chopped green chillies, minced ginger (you can also make a ginger-chilli paste), and the besan enough to bind the whole thing together. Adjust the quantity of besan to get a nice dough. Shape into lime size balls and deep fry. Drain on tissue paper.

For the gravy:
Heat the oil and fry onions till dark brown. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry well. Next add the cayenne pepper and turmeric powder. Fry for a minute. Next add the tomatoes and fry till the oil separates. At this point, add the garam masala and remove from the stove. Now let this mixture cool and then grind to a paste using the reserved cabbage juice. Add salt according to taste (remember the reserved juice already has salt, so do not add extra before tasting it).
Just before serving, simmer the gravy for 5 minutes and pour over the koftas. Garnish with cream and cilantro. Enjoy with roti or rice.

Note: This same recipe can be used to make lauki/gheea (bottle gourd) koftas.