Recipe - Courgette Meatballs

MEATBALLS
1 One fourth Courgettes
One half teaspoon Salt
1 Fresh hot green chilli,
finely chopped
3 tablespoon Finely chopped onion
One half teaspoon Peeled and very finely
grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoon Finely chopped fresh green
coriander
1 One half ounce Graham flour
Vegetable oil 4 deep frying

SAUCE
5 tablespoon Vegetable oil 4 deep frying
2 md Onions, peeled and very
finely chopped
One fourth teaspoon Ground tumeric
1/16 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon Ground cumin seeds
2 teaspoon Ground coriander seeds
One half pound Tomatoes (about 2 tomatoes)
peeled and finely chopped
8 fl Single cream
One half teaspoon Garam masala
One half teaspoon Ground roasted cumin seeds
1/3 teaspoon Salt

Wash, trim and grate the courgettes. Put them into a bowl and sprinkle
them with the salt. Set them aside for One half hr. Squeeze as much liquid as
possible our of the courgettes by pressing handfuls between your two palms.
Save this courgette liquid for the sauce. Dry off the bowl and put the
courgettes back in it. Add the chopped chilli (you may want to use more
than 1 chilli depending on your taste i use about 4 hot ones!), onion,
ginger and coriander. Sift the gram flour over this vegetable mixture. Mix
well and form 16 neat balls (i find throwing them from one hand to the
other is easiest). In a frying pan, wok or other utensil for deep frying,
heat about 1.5" /4cm of oil over a medium flame (a wok should have 1.5"/4cm
at its centre). When hot, put 5 or 6 of the balls, or as many as the
utensil will hold easily in one layer. Fry for about 1.5 min.s, or until
the balls turn a rich, reddishbrown colour. Turn the balls every now and
then as they fry. Remove them with a slotted spoon when they are done and
leave to drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper. Do all the 'meatballs'
this way.

To make the sauce, remove 5 tbsp of the oil used in deep frying and put
this in a 10"/25cm frying or saute pan. Heat the oil over a med. flame.
When hot, put in the onions. Stir and fry for 7 8 min.s or until the
onions begin to turn brown at the edges. Take the pan off the heat for a
couple of sec.s and add the tumeric, cayenne, ground cumin and ground
coriander. Stir once and put the pan back on the fire. Stir for another 5
sec.s and then add the chopped tomatoes. Stir and fry on med. heat for 5
min.s. Add the courgette juice (you need 8 fl oz, if you have less, add
some water). Bring to the boil. Cover, lower heat and let the sauce simmer
for 15 min.s (this much of the recipe may be prepared several hours ahead
of time). Add the cream, garam masala, ground roasted cumin and the salt.
Mix well, bring to a simmer and cook for 1 min. Now put in the 'meatballs'.
Spoon the sauce over them. Cover and simmer very gently for 6 7 min.s.
Spoon the sauce over the 'meatballs' a few times during this cooking
period.

These 'meatballs` turn very soft when cooked in the sauce, so handle them
gently and serve immediately.

Makes 16 'meatballs' and serves 4(normal) 6(featherweights).

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini