TOFU MEATBALL KORMA

Tonight's meal is the Ottolenghi's Korma Feast. Gosh it was delicious 😋! I have been super tired with work and haven't felt much like cooking. We have not been eating very well in the last couple of weeks.... But tonight we really had a great meal even though I had to spend hours in the kitchen 🙄. But it was worth it 😁. Tofu meatball korma & Spicy berbere ratatouille with Olive oil flatbreads. All made from scratch. Just superb! The tofu meatballs are just amazing. I have leftover tofu and will make a batch and freeze them for another day. I can eat them just with no sauce or any other sauce. They would be lovely with some tomato base sauce or any curry sauce. But even with a side vegetable dish or salad. My husband thought that they were made with mince meat!! Yum yum!

Ingredients

½ red onion, thinly sliced (60g)

2 tbsp lemon juice

40g cashews

20g blanched almonds

6 cardamom pods, shells discarded and seeds removed

2 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp coriander seeds

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped (150g)

4 garlic cloves, crushed

15g fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1 cinnamon stick

¾ tspb ground turmeric

2 plum tomatoes, grated and skins discarded (180g)

2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely sliced, to serve

salt and black pepper

TOFU MEATBALLS

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for shaping

250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced ½cm thick

200g extra-firm tofu, patted dry and then roughly crumbled into large chunks

3 garlic cloves, crushed

150g silken tofu

2 tbsp tahini (I used sesame seeds instead - 1/4 cup)

1 tbsp soy sauce

30g panko breadcrumbs

½ tbsp cornflour

5 spring onions, thinly sliced (75g), plus an extra tbsp to serve

10g coriander, finely chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan. Combine the red onion, lemon juice and ⅛ teaspoon of salt in a small bowl and set aside while you make the meatballs and sauce, or leave overnight.

Put the cashews and almonds into a small saucepan on a medium-high heat. Cover with water, bring to the boil, then lower the heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.

For the meatballs, heat the oil in a large sauté pan on a high heat, then add the mushrooms and firm tofu and cook until lightly golden, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds, then remove from the heat. Place in a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped. 

Using the Thermomix 

To make the tofu meatballs: cut the mushrooms in half and add the roughly crumbed tofu to the bowl with the oil. Cook for 8 minutes / 100°C / reverse / speed 1. Add the roughly chopped garlic and cook for an extra 30 seconds. Chop for 10 sec / speed 4. Transfer to the bowl with the rest of ingredients. Without cleaning the bowl, add the spring onions and coriander and chop for 10 sec / speed 5. Add to the other ingredients and continue with the recipe below.

Transfer to a large mixing bowl with all the remaining ingredients for the meatballs, ¾ teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Mix very well to combine. 

With oiled hands, form into 16 ping-pong-sized balls, about 40g each, compressing them as you go so they hold together. Place them on a parchment-lined baking tray, spaced apart.

Bake for 25 minutes until lightly golden. Set aside.

While the meatballs are in the oven, make the sauce. Finely crush the cardamom, cumin and coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar and set aside. Put 1½ tablespoons of oil into a large sauté pan, for which you have a lid, on a medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 10 minutes, or until softened and deeply browned. Transfer to a blender along with the nuts and 200ml of water, and blend until completely smooth, about 2 minutes.

Put the remaining 1½ tablespoons of oil into the same pan on a medium-high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and green chilli and cook for 1 minute, then add the spices and cook for 1 minute more. Add the tomatoes and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Add the puréed onion and nut mixture, another 500ml of water, 1½ teaspoons of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat to medium and cook for 25 minutes, until reduced by a third. 

Using the Thermomix 

To make the korma sauce: Put the cardamom, cumin and coriander seeds in the bowl and mill for about 30 sec / speed 10. Remove from the bowl and set aside (or use ground spices!). Cut the onion in 4 and add to the bowl. Chop for 10 sec / speed 5. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula. Add 1 1/2 Tbsp of oil and cook for 10 min / 100°C / spoon. Add the nuts and 200ml water to the bowl and blend for 2 min / speed 8. Transfer to a bowl and keep aside. 

Rinse the bowl and dry it. Add the remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp oil, the ginger, cut into slices, the garlic cloves and the chilli and cook for 1 min / 100°C / spoon. Add the spices and cook for a further minute. Add the tomatoes and chop 10 sec / speed 5. Cook for 4 min / 100°C / spoon. Add the pureed onion mixture and 500ml water, 1 1/2 tsp salt and some pepper and cook for 25 min / Varoma / speed 1 using the simmering basket instead of the measuring cup. 

Transfer to a large pan. If the sauce is not reduced, let it simmer at a high heat until it reach the desired consistency. Continue with the normal recipe.

Add the meatballs to the pan of sauce, then cover with a lid and heat for 5 minutes, until the meatballs are warmed through. Sprinkle over the coriander and sliced red onion.

Here served with Spicy berbere ratatouille and the Olive Oil flatbreads.

Here are the leftovers served with rice.

Notes from the Author

If you don’t have time to make the meatballs here, you could just make the sauce to serve with roasted cauliflower or sweet potato. It will keep for 3 days in the fridge and up to a month in the freezer. The meatballs can be cooked the day before, just warm them together with the sauce in a pan before serving.
The Olive oil flatbreads will make an excellent side here, outshining any shop-bought garlic naan. Both the korma and the flatbreads make up part of our korma feast, if you’re up to the challenge.

VARIATION

We liked the Tofu meatballs so much that I had some leftover tofu and thought I would make them again. This time though, I felt like eating them with a different sauce. It is very traditional to have meatballs and peas with a tomato base sauce in Catalonia, and I basically reproduced this recipe with the tofu meatballs. I was tired and running out of time so I used a jar sauce instead: roasted tomatoes with garlic or similar, then added a bit of water and the frozen peas. Once the peas were cooked I added the tofu meatballs and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. We like to eat this dish with baked potatoes, so I made our favourite: roasted potatoes with rosemary and lemon. We have been a bit naughty and eaten too many potatoes lately, but it was a lovely dinner.