Chickpea and Sweet Potato Koftas

I'm lucky enough to live in a house at school with ten other women who love food just as much as I do!  We live in an "honor house," which is owned by our college and requires us to carry out a project built around a theme of our choice.  Our house draws inspiration from Wendell Berry, a farmer and author.  We are focused on building community around local and sustainable food.  As part of our project, we cook meals together as a house 2-3 times per week.  We take the time to cook food from scratch, sit down and eat together, and talk about our days.  The bonds that we form through this weekly ritual are an important factor in allowing eleven girls to live together (mostly) peacefully!

Tonight was one of our meal-cooking nights, and we made a delicious dish that I had to share.  This is one of my favorite recipes to make, it's really simple, AND it meant that I had a chance to use my new food processor!  We adapted a recipe from Molly Katzen's cookbook Vegetable Heaven to make it gluten-free for my housemate who is allergic to wheat.

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Koftas

Koftas are a traditional East Indian dish that is usually deep-fried - this recipe calls for sauteing them instead.

1 medium-sized sweet potato or yam*

1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (if using dried chickpeas, use around 1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked)

1 large clove garlic

2 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces (sometimes I use a bit of diced onion instead)

2 tsp. lightly toasted cumin seeds

1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Black pepper to taste

6 Tbsp brown rice flour (I found this in the bulk bin at my local coop)

1 cup fresh or frozen peas (you don't have to defrost the frozen peas before adding them)

Oil for sauteing

  

1. Poke the sweet potato a few times with a fork, then cook in the microwave until soft (around 5 minutes, depending on your microwave) and peel.  This should yield about 1 1/2 cups of cooked sweet potato, but the recipe is very forgiving and any amount in that ballpark will work.  Transfer to a food processor.
2. Add the remaining ingredients except flour, peas and oil.  Puree until fairly smooth and transfer to a bowl.
3. Stir in the flour until it is thoroughly incorporated, then gently stir in the peas.  Form into patties.
4. Over medium-high heat, heat up some oil in a skillet.  Add the patties and saute for a few minutes on each side until lightly browned and heated through.  Depending on your sweet potato, they will probably still be very soft and will fall apart easily, but that's okay.  You just want them to be warmed through. 

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Koftas

Molly Katzen recommends serving these in pitas with tomatoes, cucumbers and yogurt.  We used them in a delicious salad that included

• Mixed greens and spinach
• Roasted zucchini and red peppers (roasted on an oiled baking sheet in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes)
• Koftas
• Cucumber yogurt dressing (I put some plain yogurt, sliced cucumbers, dried dill, toasted walnuts and a pinch of salt in the food processor and pureed the sauce until it was smooth)
• Crumbled feta cheese

Enjoy!

-Emma