Tater Tot "Kofta" Curry with Greens and Garbanzos

The other day I was pinning Indian food recipes and ran across a few for potato kofta curries. Kofta is basically a type of Indian meatball made with lamb or beef. Since we eat meatless meals most nights, I was more interested in the veggie recipes. Potato koftas are made with riced potatoes, onions and spices. Most of the recipes I read went through the painstaking instructions of how to make these potato balls...I read through them and realized, "They are just making tater tots."

I've been known to scoff at home made tater tots in all shapes and sizes so I decided that I'd make my own version of potato kofta for our lunches this week....kof-tot curry.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of unseasoned tater tots (I used 365 brand from Whole Foods)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper
• 2 teaspoons of curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups of water 
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can of tomato paste
• 2 Tablespoons plain yogurt, cream or cream cheese (I used yogurt.)
• I cup of mixed greens ( I used frozen kale and collards)
• 1 can of garbanzos

Directions:

1. For the "koftas": Bake tater tots as directed. Do not fry them or add oil or salt.
2. Combine spices with 1/2 cup of water.
3. Cook your onions in olive oil until translucent. Add the garlic until and cook until everything is starting to turn golden.
4. Add the spices and stir.
5. Add tomato paste, water, and greens. Stir until all items are combined and the tomato sauce is not clumpy.
6. Drain and rinse your garbanzos and add them to the pan.
7. Let simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the sauce thickens and the greens are cooked.
8. Add dairy and mix gently. (Or omit this, up to you, it does make it creamier.)
9. Once your tots, I mean, "koftas" are done you can add them to the sauce. Eat a few off the pan to make sure tater tots are still delicious.  Let them sit to absorb the sauce. At this point I put them in containers in the fridge for lunches in the week but you can also eat it back up and serve it. More time marinating with the rest of the curry makes it more delicious.

Don't serve this to any Indian food purists...they will laugh you out of the kitchen. Do make it if you want a quick and hearty meat free meal that makes excellent leftovers. It's probably the most glamorous way I've ever eaten tater tots...though not the most memorable. That award goes to this:

In 2012 a few of my friends and I decided that we would walk a half marathon. We knew we'd be too slow to make the cut off times of a standard half but we knew that we could do it and we wanted to try. So, in November, after months of training, we went to Topsail, NC and walked almost the entire island from tip to tip. 13.1 miles....plus two flights of stairs. It took about six hours. It was my first and last half marathon.

What does this have to do with tater tots? About 9 miles in our husbands/Sagwagon called to find out where we were. We were in desperate search of a casa azul and not in the mood for conversation.  Right as we found a construction site with a port-a-potty and stopped for a break, they pulled up with HOT tater tots. OMG.  We were all sick of water, granola bars and trail mix and those heavenly tots really hit the spot. 

Which is why our make shift, grassroots, half marathon will always been known as the Tater Tot Trudge.