Vegan Zucchini Kofta Curry – delicious and soft melt-in-mouth zucchini koftas (Indian style fried zucchini chickpea dumplings or the vegetarian meatballs) in a creamy tomato gravy. These zucchini koftas aka vegetarian meatballs are a wholesome vegan dish that pairs great with rice and roti as well. Check out the detailed Zucchini Kofta curry recipe with step-wise pictures below.
Why Zucchini Koftas?
I know in Indian cuisine, we usually prepare koftas with bottle gourd or paneer. This year, I had bountiful zucchini harvest from my backyard garden. I never thought I would harvest these many zucchinis from just two plants. I started adding zucchini in every single recipe – be it on my sambar or dal.
That’s when I thought of zucchini koftas, and I wanted to try it right away which I duly did. It turned out great, and I tried it again for a recent potluck, and all our friends relished it.
The koftas are soft, and they melt in the mouth. You can relish it either with rice or roti or just as is. Like bottle gourd kofta, you need to squeeze as much as water you can from zucchinis. I deep-fried the koftas but you can air-fry them or shallow fry them in an appe pan as well.
As I went with deep-frying, I did not use any oil for the gravy. The gravy or the curry is oil-free, and it is such a versatile curry that instead of dumplings you can add panner or veggies or any protein of your choice and serve it with rice or roti.
Versatile & Creamy Gravy with Almonds
I used almonds to make the gravy rich. All you have to do is blanch the almonds and grind and add it to the sauce to make it rich and creamy. There is no need for additional cream making it perfect for vegans. :-)
You can prepare the gravy first and then make the koftas or prepare them both simultaneously. Our friend’s shared this zero-oil curry preparation in the pressure cooker, and I love it very much. It’s super easy to prepare, and as mentioned above it is so versatile. I have quite a few recipes(instant pot ones) lined with that gravy. So stay tuned.
Vegetarian Zucchini Recipes
Before getting into the recipe, let me share a few zucchini recipes from my archives.
- Zucchini Rice – the perfect lunch box recipe
- Dal with Zucchini
- Zucchini Pakora
- Zucchini Tikki
How to prepare Vegan Zucchini Kofta Curry?
Without any further ado, here is the curry recipe. This method might sound lengthy and involved, you as always if you plan it and do the prep work ahead, it is easy to put together. Check the notes below section for additional tips.
Vegan Zucchini Kofta Curry Recipe
Ingredients:
For the Koftas:
- Zucchini – 2, when chopped 2.5 cups approx
- Shallots – 4
- Ginger – 1-inch piece
- Carom Seeds – ¼ tsp
- Chickpea Flour – 4 tbsp
- All-Purpose Flour – 1 tbsp
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
- Green Chili – 1
- Cilantro – 2 tbsp
- Breadcrumbs – 4 tbsps or as required
- Oil – for frying
For the Gravy:
- Tomatoes – 2
- Onion – 1
- Ginger Garlic Paste – ½ tsp
- Red Chili Powder – ½ tsp
- Garam Masala – 1 tsp
- Almonds – 20
- Water – 3 cups
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Cilantro – to garnish
Prep – Work:
- Wash and peel the zucchini skin and grate it.
- Squeeze the water from zucchini as much as you can.
- Chop the shallots, green chili, ginger, and cilantro finely.
- Also, chop the tomatoes and onion for the gravy.
- Soak the almonds in 1 cup of water for 1 hour or microwave the almonds with 1 cup of water for 2 minutes and remove the skin.
Zucchini Kofta Preparation:
- In a bowl, add the grated and water squeezed zucchini, chopped ginger, green chili, cilantro, chickpea flour, all-purpose flour, carom seeds, turmeric powder, shallots, and salt.
- Do not add any water. Mix it thoroughly. If the mixture is watery, then add more chickpea flour or all-purpose flour.
- Make sure the kofta flour mix is thick and make small lemon-sized balls and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil for frying.
- When the oil is hot, roll the zucchini balls over the breadcrumbs. (spread 1 tbsp of breadcrumb on a plate and add as required. Do not add the entire breadcrumbs at once)
- Slowly drop these balls and fry until they are brown.
- Take them out and let it sit in the tissue paper to remove the excess oil. Now the koftas are ready.
Gravy Preparation:
- Pressure cook the chopped onion and tomatoes by adding one cup of water for just one whistle.
- When the pressure is gone, open the pressure cooker and mash the onion and tomato with a potato masher.
- Now heat the pressure cooker or kadai and add the cooked onion and tomato mix. I used my pressure pan so prepared the kofta curry in the same pot.
- To this add the red chili powder, garam masala, salt, ginger-garlic paste.
- Mix well and allow it simmer over medium heat for five minutes.
- While it is simmering, grind the blanched almonds with remaining one cup of water.
- Add this almond puree to the gravy and allow it to simmer for a couple more minutes.
- Now add the koftas one by one and let it simmer for a few more minutes and that’s it.
- Garnish it with cilantro and serve hot it with rice or roti.
Notes:
- Instead of zucchini, you can use bottle gourd. And as always adjust spices and salt as per your preference.
- Spread 1 tbsp of breadcrumb on a plate and add as required. Do not add the entire breadcrumbs at once.
- Squeeze the water from zucchini as much as you can. If the kofta mix contains a lot of water content, the koftas might fall apart while frying or it might absorb more oil.
- I first kept the tomato and onion mix in the pressure cooker and also microwaved the almonds and allowed it cool. While that was cooking, I made the koftas. By the time I fried koftas, the pressure was all gone, and I was able to open the cooker. Then I made the gravy and whipped up the kofta curry.
- If you are not particular about vegan, then you can add fresh cream instead of almonds.
- You can soak cashews and use the cashew cream instead of almonds.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Zucchini Kofta Curry
Ingredients
For the Koftas:
- 2 Zucchini when chopped 2.5 cups approx
- 4 Shallots
- 1-inch Ginger
- ¼ tsp Carom Seeds
- 4 tbsp Chickpea Flour
- 1 tbsp All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1 Green Chili
- 2 tbsp Cilantro
- 4 tbsp Breadcrumbs as required
- 2.5 cups Oil for frying
For the Gravy:
- 2 Tomatoes
- 1 Onion
- ½ tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- ½ tsp Red Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
- 20 Almonds
- 3 cups Water
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsps Cilantro to garnish
Instructions
Prep - Work:
- Wash and peel the zucchini skin and grate it.
- Squeeze the water from zucchini as much as you can.
- Chop the shallots, green chili, ginger, and cilantro finely.
- Also, chop the tomatoes and onion for the gravy.
- Soak the almonds in 1 cup of water for 1 hour or microwave the almonds with 1 cup of water for 2 minutes and remove the skin.
Zucchini Kofta Preparation:
- In a bowl, add the grated and water squeezed zucchini, chopped ginger, green chili, cilantro, chickpea flour, all-purpose flour, carom seeds, turmeric powder, shallots, and salt.
- Do not add any water. Mix it thoroughly. If the mixture is watery, then add more chickpea flour or all-purpose flour.
- Make sure the kofta flour mix is thick and make small lemon-sized balls and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil for frying.
- When the oil is hot, roll the zucchini balls over the breadcrumbs. (spread 1 tbsp of breadcrumb on a plate and add as required. Do not add the entire breadcrumbs at once)
- Slowly drop these balls and fry until they are brown.
- Take them out and let it sit in the tissue paper to remove the excess oil. Now the koftas are ready.
Gravy Preparation:
- Pressure cook the chopped onion and tomatoes by adding one cup of water for just one whistle.
- When the pressure is gone, open the pressure cooker and mash the onion and tomato with a potato masher.
- Now heat the pressure cooker or kadai and add the cooked onion and tomato mix. I used my pressure pan so prepared the kofta curry in the same pot.
- To this add the red chili powder, garam masala, salt, ginger-garlic paste.
- Mix well and allow it simmer over medium heat for five minutes.
- While it is simmering, grind the blanched almonds with remaining one cup of water.
- Add this almond puree to the gravy and allow it to simmer for a couple more minutes.
- Now add the koftas one by one and let it simmer for a few more minutes and that's it.
- Garnish it with cilantro and serve hot it with rice or roti.
Notes
- Instead of zucchini, you can use bottle gourd. And as always adjust spices and salt as per your preference.
- Spread 1 tbsp of breadcrumb on a plate and add as required. Do not add the entire breadcrumbs at once.
- Squeeze the water from zucchini as much as you can. If the kofta mix contains a lot of water content, the koftas might fall apart while frying or it might absorb more oil.
- I first kept the tomato and onion mix in the pressure cooker and also microwaved the almonds and allowed it cool. While that was cooking, I made the koftas. By the time I fried koftas, the pressure was all gone, and I was able to open the cooker. Then I made the gravy and whipped up the kofta curry.
- If you are not particular about vegan, then you can add fresh cream instead of almonds.
- You can soak cashews and use the cashew cream instead of almonds.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
P.S. Follow my Pinterest boards for more healthy and delicious recipe ideas.
The koftas came out good – I made them on the tawa with a little oil. The gravy was too thick, not sure what I did wrong.
Would you suggest anything for me for the second day for the leftovers because the gravy has become very thick. I don’t want to just dilute it because the taste will also be diluted. Maybe more tomato and onion?
Thanks. Glad the kofta came out good. You can dilute the gravy but make sure to add more salt and garam masala to retain the flavors. Alternatively, if you have tomato paste, you can dilute that with water and add to the gravy along with salt and garam masala and simmer. I hope this helps. Thanks again.
Great recipe though I didn’t want to fry so did the kofta in the oven and they were fantastic and held together really well! Also I used curds instead of almonds which made the curry creamy. Managed to convert my sis in law to love these too!!
Thanks a lot. Glad to know you baked. I have to try it now. :-)
200⁰C for 30 mins or 20 if you got most of the water out. Check if you need to turn them over or if done and ready to take out of the oven ?
This is delicious! I will prepare this evening for my partner. Thank you very much
Thanks. Glad you liked it. Let me know how it turned out. Thanks