Best Banana Kofta

When I was living in India, most of my neighbours were Jain. So I learned many dishes using raw banana like samosa, kela vada, banana fries, pav bhaji, Dabeli and I loved it. You won’t even notice the difference as long as banana are raw (green) and cooked right. You can use plantain instead of banana.

Usually koftas are prepared using potato but I decided to use banana as it has a great health benefits so it made more sense to use it instead of potato. Most of the time, koftas are deep fried before dipping it in aromatic tomato sauce, but I decided to prepare it in appam pan. I have also shared the recipe of paneer cauliflower kofta which were prepared using appam pan.  I love my appam pan which is very similar to Danish Aebleskiver pan or Japanese Takoyaki. It is the best investment. You may have seen my below recipes which I have prepared using appam pan. You can also prepare the kofta in airfryer.

You can eat these dry kofta (without sauce) as it is with chutney and also during Hindu fasting. You can skip onion, garlic and ginger to make Jain version. This is vegan (skip ghee and cream), gluten free sabji.

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Product recommended
Appam patra

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Non Fried Peas Potato Patties
Non-Fried Potato Stuff Chili Pakoda (Fritter)
Vegetable Stir Fry with Manchurian Balls
Vada Pav
Lauki/Dhudhi Kofta
Dahi Vada/Bhalla
Crispy Garlic Baby Potatoes
No Fry Medu Vada
Spinach Bean Croquette

Please note that you can see printable version at the end. You need to use chrome browser to print or save a two pager copy of the recipe.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

Kofta:
3 big green (raw) banana
1 tbsp besan (gram flour)
1/4 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp chili powder
Salt to taste

Stuffing:
1 cup grated paneer (Indian cottage cheese)
1/2 cup chopped cashew
20-25 raisins/kishmish
1/4 tsp cumin powder
Little salt
Oil for cooking

Gravy/Sauce:
3-4 medium onion each cut in 4 pieces
1 cup tomato puree or 3 tomato put + cut on top
3 cloves of garlic
Small piece of ginger
10-15 cashew
3-4 cardamom pods remove seeds
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
1 tsp coriander cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
1 tbsp sugar
Oil/ghee for cooking
Chopped coriander and cream for garnishing

Procedure

1. Remove both ends of banana and pressure cook for 3 whistle. Just add the water in cooker but not in vessel with banana. Once done, remove banana from cooker. Let it rest for 15-20 minutes until easy to handle. Then remove skin and grate using grater.

2. To prepare kofta, mix grated banana, besan, chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. It will be dough like consistency. If it’s soft, you can add little more besan. If you are making dry patties for fasting then add black pepper and cumin powder, chopped green chilies, potato starch and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, prepare stuffing by mixing grated paneer, chopped cashew, raisins, cumin powder and little salt.

4. Now prepare kofta. Oil your palm first then make small ball of banana, you can check the ball if it fits in appam pan cavity (hole). Make well in ball on your palm, add paneer mixer. Circle the bowl with your hands so the surface will be smooth. Prepare all the balls and keep on the side. I was able to make 12 kofta.

5. Heat appam pan. Grease each hole with 1/4 tsp oil. When pan is hot, turn down the heat to medium. Drop one ball in each cavity/hole. Cook kofta from all sides while flipping around and add 1-2 drops of oil if needed. Cook from all sides until it’s brown. Remove from the pan when done. You can instead deep fry these in hot oil. You can prepare this a day ahead and next day heat slightly in appam pan before using. You can serve these kofta with chutney for snacks.

6. While you are preparing kofta, you can start blanching onion, garlic and tomato (if you using fresh tomato). Heat a wide pan with 2 glass of water. Add onion and garlic, and let it cook in water for 2-3 minutes. Then add tomato and cook for 1-2 minutes. Turn off the heat. Carefully remove onion and garlic using spatula and put in mixer jar. Carefully remove tomato and when it slightly cools down, remove skin and add it to same mixer jar. Also add ginger, cashew and cardamom seeds. Blend to smooth puree. If you are making Jain version, only blanch tomato for 1 minute and crush it with cashew and cardamom seeds.

7. Heat a 1-2 tbsp oil (ghee for more flavour) in pan. When oil is hot, turn down the heat and add red chili powder and immediately add onion tomato puree. (If you are using tomato puree then you can skip blanching tomato and add at this point). Cook on medium heat for 2 minutes. Add kasuri methi (crush with hands before adding), coriander cumin powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, salt and sugar. Cook for 1 minute. Then add around 1/2 cup water (keep the sauce thick). Let it simmer on low for 3-4 mins covering the lid. When this sauce is ready, turn off the heat.

8. When you are ready to serve, heat sauce one more time. Pour sauce in a flat bottom serving bowl. Arrange kofta on top of sauce and garnish with chopped cilantro/coriander and cream. Serve these kele ke kofte with roti/paratha/naan of your choice. It goes well with pulao or jeera rice too.

You can eat these dry kofta (without sauce) as it is with chutney and also during Hindu fasting. You can skip onion, garlic and ginger to make Jain version. This is vegan (skip ghee and cream), gluten free sabji. I am sure, once you try this healthy recipe you won’t miss fried kofta anymore. Elaichi (cardamom) adds such a wonderful flavour to the dish! Paneer, cashews and raisins in the middle of kofta adds creaminess, texture and sweetness. You can adjust sweetness to sauce as per your taste but it tastes better when slightly sweet. We absolutely enjoyed this dish!!  Hope you will try it!

Also let me know if you have any questions regarding the dish.

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