Kohlrabi Beet Spicy Chickpea Balls (Koftas) with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

Koftas are a favorite at home - can be made with anything essentially. Am partial to vegetable koftas. Typically koftas are fried balls and are served with spicy sauce, as a side for rice or roti or naan.

This time, I decided to bake the kohlrabi-beet koftas and serve them with cooling creamy yogurt sauce, garnished with fresh crisp veggies.

I was glad to incorporate chickpea flour, rice flour and oat bran into this recipe. These can be deep fried, if preferred.

Since kohlrabi and beets are full of water, I retain their juices and adjust the flours accordingly to get the dough into shape-able consistency.

These kohlrabi kofta balls make a good substitute for meatballs as they are fairly sturdy can can soak up the sauce without falling apart easily. So I throw them in marinara sauce and serve them with spaghetti sometimes. The cooked Kofta balls can be cooled a bit and then stored in the freezer. I've usually used the frozen koftas within a week.

When the ingredients list looks long and some of the items therein seem non-mainstream in some recipes, rather than walk away from the dish or possibly reject it for future attempts, I try to make an educated guess about substitutions and follow the recipe in spirit and see what turns up. Not that this is a complicated recipe or anything...


Ingredients

For the Kohlrabi Kofta Balls:
1 cup finely grated kohlrabi
½ cup finely grated beets
2 Tablespoon finely grated red onions
2 Tablespoon tomato paste
2 Tablespoon cumin powder
2 Tablespoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoon dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper powder
1 teaspoon celery seeds
⅓ cup fine oat bran⅓ cup rice flour
½ cup chickpea flour
salt to taste
2 tablespoons sunflower or avocado oil for the dough
plus oil for spraying or drizzling before baking

For the Creamy Yogurt Sauce:
½ cup plain thick Greek yogurt
1 Tablespoon Tahini
½ teaspoon caraway seeds, toasted and crushed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon dry dill weed
1 to 2 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
salt to taste

For Garnish:
baby English hothouse cucumbers, sliced
sweet cherry or grape tomatoes halved
small red radish, sliced
cilantro, chopped
spring onions and chives finely chopped


Preparation

1. Pre-heat the oven to 420°F
2. Kohlrabi Kofta: Combine all the ingredients to form a dough that can be shaped into balls 
3. Arrange the 1.5 inch diameter balls in a roasting pan, drizzle or spray some oil
4. Bake in the 420°F oven for about 25 to 35 minutes till cooked through; turn the balls halfway through to brown all sides
5. Creamy Yogurt Sauce: Combine the sauce ingredients in a blender and whip to a smooth creamy consistency
6. Serve the Kohlrabi Beet Koftas with Creamy Yogurt Sauce topped with cucumbers, tomatoes, radish, cilantro, and spring onions