Gluten Free Little Dumplings, Nettle Koftas in Yogurt Sauce

    
   The lack of rain this dry Winter has left us with little to choose from at the Friday Organic Farmers Market here in Sonoma. There are some squashes and mushrooms, but the one thing that has been plentiful have been nettles. Yes, the old fairy tale standby is found regularly and plentifully every Friday morning. Ever since I got turned on to nettles by Paula Wolfert, I've been snapping them up whenever I can get them.

   Some people are lucky and they grow wild near their houses. The stuff that grows wild near ours is Miners Lettuce and that's not up yet. Even when it is, it's a favorite nesting spot for the local cats so we won't go there. At 2 bucks for a big bag, nettles are a cheap deal around here and a very versatile vegetable if you're not in thrall to a troll being forced to make nettle coats for your brothers who have been turned into enchanted geese that is....

   Nettles, aside from their stinging capacity can easily be substituted for spinach in most recipes and vice versa. Just think of them as spinach with attitude. So when I went looking for a recipe to prepare with them, I ran through the usual suspects. At first I thought Nudi, a version of gnocchi, or rather naked ravioli. In looking up the recipe I quickly learned that the recipe I was looking for started with a silent G, otherwise you get quite a different naked experience, one I can't show you.
Of course there's also the other Nudie who showed up  thanks to Lord Google. Nudie Cohn the famous tailor to Elvis, and assorted other musical stars

Wrong Nudie

Adding the silent G to nudie and dropping the e left me with gnudi.

Right, but still the wrong gnudi

   I wanted to use the nettles in an Indian dish and since they make a great substitute for spinach in any saag dish it was pretty easy. One of my favorite Indian dishes are koftas. Koftas are small meatballs that can be made with either meat or just plain vegetables and one of my favorite  sort of koftas are spinach koftas. Spinach koftas are a sort of spinach gnocchi, only the Indian version is gluten free so they're perfect for any gluten intolerant friends or family. Nettles standing in for spinach in this recipe make the perfect substitute. If you haven't got any nettles where you live, just use spinach, either frozen or fresh will do.

   The only thing tricky about nettles are the stingy part which can cause pain and a rash if you don't handle them correctly. This is a lot easier than it may sound so don't be alarmed, just follow the nettle handling directions on my blog and you won't have any problems. Served in a light yogurt sauce, once you get the hang of it, these little dumplings are fast and easy to make.
 

Nettle Kofta In Yogurt Sauce

Here's What You Need:
1 lb fresh nettles or spinach frozen or fresh
1 and 1/2 cup besan flour
1 red onion chopped finely
1 tomato finely diced
1 tsp ground cumin
2 Tbs  fresh chopped cilantro
1 and 1/2 cups plain yogurt
4 Tbs besan flour
1 Tbs oil
2 tsp black mustard seed
1 tsp fenugreek seed
6 fresh curry leaves
1 onion finely chopped
1 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili or 1/4 tsp cayenne mixed with 1/4 paprika

Here's What To Do:
Prepare the nettles the same way shown here.
if you are using spinach, boil it for 1 minute and then pour it out and run cold water over it. Press the water out of it and chop it.
If you are using frozen spinach, defrost it and press the water out of it then you're ready to go!
Finely chop the nettles or spinach.
Mix them with the chopped onion and tomato.

Add in the cumin.

Blend in the besan (garbanzo flour).

You an add up to 1/4 cup of water to make a smooth mixture. If it's too  soft you can always add more besan.
Add in salt to taste.
Mix everything together well.

When the mixture is a smooth dough, set it aside.

In a large bowl mix together 4 Tbs of besan flour, 1 and 1/2 cup of plain yogurt.

Blend everything together into a smooth batter.

Add in 3 cups of water.

Set it aside.
In a large skillet heat 1 Tbs of vegetable oil. I use coconut oil.

 

When the oil is ho,t toss in the fenugreek seeds and the mustard seeds.

Add in the curry leaves.

When the mustard seeds start to pop add in the chopped onion.

When the onion starts to turn a light golden brown add in the turmeric and Kashmiri chili.

Stir them around for a moment or two then add in the yogurt, besan, water mixture.

Bring everything to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer everything for about 10 minutes.
Taste the yogurt sauce for salt.

Meanwhile, back at the nettles or spinach.
Take a teaspoon of the mixture, dampen your hands and roll the mixture into a ball.

Set the balls aside.

Pour vegetable oil into a small wok or kadhai. Fill it about 2 inches deep. Heat the oil and when it is hot drop the balls into it.

Fry them gently until they turn a light brown.

Place the nettle or spinach balls into the warm yogurt mixture.
Warm the koftas in the yogurt sauce and when they're heated through, sprinkle them with a bit of chopped fresh cilantro and serve them up.

   There they are, soft pillowy little puffs and gluten free too, in a creamy yogurt sauce. Serve them with chapatti or a side dish of rice. Simple, and a perfect dish for a Meatless Monday. Coming up next, the simplest, easiest Persimmon ice cream ever.Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Pumpkin Koftas, Meatless Meatballs For Meatless Monday

   Halloween has always been one of my favorite Holidays. I used to love the cold and foggy dark of San Francisco nights where I could barely see my candy bag in front of my face. Halloween as a kid meant the rare thrill of being out after dark, and the ability to run wild with a gang of neighborhood kids for a few magic hours.  It meant flickering candles in the mouths of shrieking jack o' lanterns, the sighing of the fog horns, the running slap of tennis shoes on the damp sidewalks and the barking of the seals on nearby Seal Rocks. Anything might happen on a night like that.

   Of course forgetting the costume and free candy part, that was what most nights in the Sunset district of San Francisco (otherwise known as The Outside Lands) were like. It was a sort of Bronte growing up, and it left me with a permanent soft spot for dark, dank nights when the clock falls back, lying in bed listening to the bark of seals, Halloween, and Jack O' Lanterns in the raw, aka Pumpkins. Yes, I'm a pumpkin freak. I admit it. The fruit/vegetable that can be sweet, savory and also scary? Dude, that's what I call versatile! I'm talking Justin Timberlake-acting-dancing-singing versatile. Except Justin Timberlake isn't vegan cause he, like the rest of us is technically made of meat.

   Well, we're smack in the middle of pumpkin season and there are a lot of things that can be done besides going all Nip and Tuck on them, Jack O' Lantern style. Now I happen to have a few (make that a buttload of) pumpkins around. I'd planned on carving and candeling them for Halloween but got too lazy, and so when Halloween rolled around, it was just Alan and me and Patsy the Husky and Johnny Depp (the neighbors cat) and nothing got done.

   So something had to be done with these pumpkins, and fast. Last year I'd had a similar intention and decided to store my extra pumpkins in the garage. Well, one thing led to another and I located one of the pumpkins sometime in the spring. Okay, I didn't exactly locate it. You couldn't miss it. Only it wasn't quite a pumpkin anymore. It was more like a pumpkinish  bathmat, all orange and fuzzy.

   This year I was determined that wasn't going to happen again. I had no excuses for neglecting my gourds because pumpkins aren't just for carving anymore. There are a whole raft of other  things  that one can do with them besides let them rot in the garage. One can make pies, and pasta sauces, breads and cookies, purees and gnocchi. One can also make  meatballs. Well, not really meatballs, more like meatless-balls otherwise known as koftas.

   Koftas are delicious, little puffy bites. Koftas can be made of anything, spinach, flour, bread, potatoes, yams, you name it. The ingredients are mixed with chilies and spices and a bit of garbanzo flour (besan). Usually they're deep fried, but in the name of holiday sanity and health,  I decided to saute/fry mine in a smaller amount of vegetable oil. Serve koftas in a sauce, or on a platter as finger food with a spicy dipping sauce. They're easy to make and perfect for the holiday season ahead.

Pumpkin Koftas

Here's what you'll need:
  1 small sugar pie pumpkin (about 1 and 1/2 lbs or 4 cups) peeled and grated
  2  fresh green serrano chilies seeded and stemmed and finely chopped
  1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
  1 tsp of salt
  1 Tbs of fresh lime juice
  2/3 cup of chickpea (garbanzo flour)

Here's What To Do:
 Peel and grate the pumpkin in a food processor and set it aside.
 In a bowl, combine the pumpkin with everything else.

  Pour in the lime juice for moisting.

  Get your hands in it and mix it all around. Massage that pumpkin.

  Roll it into little 1 inch balls.

  Cute.

  Heat some vegetable oil in a kadhai or wok. I used enough to come halfway up the little koftas but not enough to cover or deep fry them.
 When the oil is very very hot, add in the koftas.

  Roll them around until they brown and crisp up. Then take them out with a slotted spoon and set them on a plate with a paper towel to let them drain.

   These should be served with a sauce, either for dipping or poured over the koftas. The sauce I  used for the pumpkin koftas was a spicy spinach sauce. Since pumpkin is mild, this sauce hots them up and makes the flavors pop. And since the koftas must be served and eaten hot, the best thing is to make the sauce ahead of time, and this spinach sauce can be made a day ahead. Keep it in the fridge and heat it up before using.

 Here's What's In It:
  1 bag of fresh  baby spinach
  4 Tbs of vegetable oil
  A  2 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled and chopped
  2 fresh green serrano chilies slit up the mmiddle
  1 bunch of fresh mint
  1 and 1/2 cups of water
  1 tsp of salt

 Here's What To Do:
  In a skillet or wok or kadhai heat the oil.
  When the oil is hot, toss in the chopped ginger and chilies. Stir all that around and saute it a bit, then add in:
  The spinach

  The mint.

  Cook everything until the spinach and mint start to wilt, then turn down the heat and add in the water and salt.

  Turn down the heat, put a lid on things and let it all simmmer for about 15 minutes.
  Take it off the heat.
   Put everything into a food processor and blend it up into a puree.

  Serve it when it's done with the koftas, or pop it in the fridge to use later. Use a little or use a lot.

   I love these pumpkin koftas, vegan, gluten free, vegetarian, perfect for meatless Monday feasting. It ticks all the boxes no matter how you eat. Even carnivores love 'em. I'm not talking about Patsy or Johnny Depp the cat, but the other major carnivore around here, Alan.

   I'll be making more of these koftas over the holiday season using a variety of vegetables. I think they'll be perfect on party platters. In fact coming up next  the traditional holiday sweet potatoes get an Indian tune up. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori