Bandhakopir Kofta (Cabbage Balls)

Cabbage curry is a well-known dish and all Bengalis probably make it quite often. The one that is slightly more unusual, is probably the cabbage koftas. Strangely, I don't remember having them in Kolkata. I remember having plantain kofta, and loving that over the plantain curry. But because of the complexity of the procedure I don't remember having much of that. As far as I remember, I had my first cabbage kofta curry in California. We used to call her grandma, and she was a well-known cook among friends and families. She was originally from Bangladesh and the kofta she used to make was out of this world. Unfortunately, my koftas are no where close to them. Now thinking of that I am wondering if this dish was more popular in east bengal. I used to make them very often right after I learned it from her. But just realized I haven't made them in a while, probably because they are time consuming.

Ingredients:

1 whole cabbage shredded and boiled
2 potatoes cubed and fried with salt and turmeric
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
2 green chilies slit lengthwise
2 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 chopped tomato
1 whole boiled potato
1 tbsp flour
Salt and sugar per taste
Oil for frying the koftas and cooking
Ghee and garam masala (optional)

Recipe:

Squeeze the boiled shredded cabbage very well and let it rest in a strainer for 2/3 hours until water completely drains out
To this cabbage add the boiled potato, a pinch of turmeric, cumin powder, half of the ginger paste, flour, very little salt (please keep in mind koftas will absorb salt from the gravy)
Knead it to a fine dough, that shouldn't be too soft or too tight, you can add more flour or potato if needed
Add oil to a skillet and shallow fry the koftas one by one
Add some more oil if needed for rest of the cooking
Add the bay leaf and cumin seed to the oil
Add the ginger paste, saute for one minute then add the tomatoes
Add green chilies
Add the coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt and sugar and saute until oil leaves the spices
Add desired water for gravy (the koftas will absorb some of the gravy and become almost double in size)
Add the koftas and fried potatoes
You can add some ghee and garam masala in the end