Cocktail Koftas

⇐ Recipes from cookery books

The big black cast iron dish I have (pictured) takes about double the quantity of this recipe, i.e approx 1kg of minced lamb.

Ingredients

for the meatballs

500g minced lamb (or beef, or half-om-half) see above

½ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp garam masala

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

2 Tbsp fine chopped fresh coriander

3 Tbsp yoghurt (greek or similar)

for the sauce

5 cloves garlic

3cm fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

4 Tbsp + 250ml water

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp cayenne pepper

5 Tbsp vegetable oil

100g onion finely chopped

2-3cm stick cinnamon

6 whole cloves

6 whole green cardamom pods

100g tomato finely chopped - or ½ tin

4 Tbsp yoghurt

½ tsp salt

Method

1. Meatballs. Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs and squeeze together till fully mixed. Form into 20-30 meatballs.
2. Make the spice paste. Put the garlic and ginger in a food processor and whizz with 4 Tbsp water to form a paste. Put in a bowl and mix in the ground spices.
3. Fry the onions. Heat the oil in a heavy pan over a medium high flame. When hot add the whole spices and fry for several seconds. Add the onions and fry, stirring frequently, until they are a reddish brown colour.
4. Fry the spice mix. Turn down the heat a little and add the ginger, garlic, spice paste and the tomatoes. Fry till the sauce starts to catch. Then add a Tbsp of yoghurt and mix and incorporate. Repeat with the other Tbsps of yogurt. Then add ½tsp of salt and 250ml water and bring to a simmer
5. Cook. Add the meatballs in a single layer and cook on a very low heat. Alternatively, place in a single layer in a shallow oven dish and cook in the oven at 160℃. Cook for 30-40 minutes stirring occasionally. If need be add a little water during cooking, but sauce should be quite thick at the end

Indian Cookery Madhur Jaffrey

indian