In the hope of injecting a little bit of control into our otherwise out of control evenings, we try to plan a menu for each pay fortnight which we write down on a little whiteboard and keep on the fridge. This helps us be slightly more organised with the supermarket, butcher, and green grocer shopping. It has the added benefit of meaning we (usually) don’t have to worry about whats for dinner at the last minute. Plus we don’t own a microwave so need to know whats coming up meal-wise so we can get the meat out of the freezer in time. I’ll admit its not foolproof and it can be incredibly hard work figuring out the next 14 meals, but overall I think it saves us just a little bit of stress.
Things had become a little hum-drum with the menu and we were getting a bit lazy. The same 20 or so meals just seemed to be on endless repeat. So in the new year we resolved to choose one new meal each fortnight from our often-added-to, seldom-referred-to cookbook collection.
I adore cookbooks, I could spend hours reading them and salivating over them, I just don’t seem to be very good at actually cooking from them. The book the inspiration for this recipe comes from is one of the few exceptions. Whenever we’re in a rut food-wise, this is the book we go to. Its inspiration on every page. We’re so enamoured with this book we’ve bought a copy for both our mothers. Its “The Essential Asian Cookbook”, printed by Murdoch Books Pty. Limited.
Every recipe we’ve cooked from it over the years has turned out wonderfully, and yet the recipes themselves are flexible enough to withstand a little tinkering (can’t help myself) and still be delicious. The book itself is an Asian food-lovers paradise. Categorised into chapters by Country, there are 293 pages of beautifully photographed Asian dishes from the very quick and simple, to the complex and complicated. It even includes little sections on various breads, teas, sauces, and a glossary of key Asian ingredients, preparation and cooking techniques.
This Kofta Curry is one we’ve done before and one we’ll do again, though we have made a few minor adjustments along the way to suit our tastes and the level of spice the kids can handle.
The lamb kofta are so moist and flavoursome and the interesting sauce softened with yoghurt and coconut milk has just the right level of acidity to balance out the richness of the lamb mince. For a relatively quick curry it has a wonderful depth of flavour. We serve it with my version of fragrant rice and steamed vegetables on the side. It would also be spectacular with some freshly made flat-bread if you have the time.
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
- For the meatballs:
- 500g lamb mince
- ½ brown onion
- ½ red chilli
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 tsp fresh grated ginger
- 1 tsp ground cardamon
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp poppy seeds
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- ½ cup dried breadcrumbs
- freshly ground black pepper
- oil or ghee for frying
For the sauce: - 1 tbsp oil or ghee
- ½ brown onion
- ½ red chilli
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 tsp fresh grated ginger
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 3 tsp ground coriander
- 3 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup unsweetened yoghurt
- 165ml can coconut milk
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander
- 2 tbsp fresh mint
For the rice: - 1½ cups jasmine rice
- 3 cups liquid chicken stock
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
- 1 tsp caraway seeds
- First, make the meatballs. Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger and place into a food processor or mortar and pestle with the chilli, cardamon, ground coriander, poppy seeds, fresh coriander, and salt. Process or pound into a rough paste. Put the paste into a large bowl and add the lamb mince, egg and breadcrumbs. Season well with pepper. Mix with your hands until well combined. Line a baking tray or large flat dish with greaseproof paper, then take tablespoons of the lamb mixture and form into meatballs with your hands. Place on the tray. Once all the meatballs are rolled, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until needed. Note. the meatballs can be made a day in advance.
- Heat a little oil or ghee in a large frypan and cook the meatballs over a medium heat until browned all over. Remove from the pan and set aside. Do not clean the pan. Note: unless you have a very large frypan, the meatballs will need to be cooked in batches. If the pan is too crowded, the meatballs will stew and won't brown.
- To make the sauce, finely chop the onion, chilli and garlic. Reheat the same pan making use of the residual oil left from cooking the meatballs. Add the onion, chilli, garlic, grated ginger and ground tumeric. Cook over a gentle heat, stirring, until the onion is soft. Add the ground coriander, ground cumin, vinegar and water and simmer for a minute. Carefully add the meatballs back into the pan and stir gently. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- While the meatballs simmer, cook the rice. Put the stock, butter and seeds into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour in the rice and stir with a fork. Return to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer for 5 minutes before turning off the heat. Leave the saucepan on the element and the lid on the pot for at least 20 minutes to allow the rice to steam.
- To finish the sauce, combine the yoghurt and coconut milk and add to the pan. Stir to coat the meatballs then simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
- To serve, finely chop the fresh mint and coriander and stir through the meatballs. Fluff the rice with a fork and put into serving plates, or a large platter. Top with the meatballs and sauce. Serve immediately.
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