Kofta curry, a comforting Pakistani lamb meatball curry
Lamb kofta curry is a spicy meatball curry. You know it's a good day when you see kofta on the dinner table, it does not take long for everyone to take their seats.
Ingredients
Ingredients for curry base/masala
- 2.5 medium onions, finely chopped
- 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
- 2 green chillies, finely chopped
- 1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground coriander powder
- 0.5 tsp ground cumin powder
- 0.5 tsp paprika
- 0.5 tsp turmeric powder
- 0.25 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
Ingredients for meatballs/kofta
- 500 grams lamb mince
- 0.5 tsp garlic, finely chopped
- 0.5 tsp ginger, finely chopped
- 0.5 onion, finely chopped onion, make sure you squeeze out water from the onions first
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground coriander powder
- 0.5 tsp ground cumin powder
- 0.5 tsp cumin seeds
- 0.25 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
- 2 slices wholemeal bread, crusts removed
Instructions
Method for masala base
- Finely chop the onions, I like to use my food processor as it saves time. Heat 4 tablespoons of rapeseed oil to a saucepan, then add the onions and cook on medium heat.
- Keep regularly stirring the onions as they brown. Make sure the onions don't burn. They should be brown in around 15 minutes.
- Add the garlic and ginger to the pan, cook for approximately 2 minutes or until the garlic ginger smell has faded.
- Then add the tomatoes and green chillies to the pan. Stir for a minute or so.
- Then add the salt, coriander powder, cumin powder, paprika powder, chilli powder and turmeric powder. Again stir through and cook for 2 minutes.
- The masala mixture will be quite dry, add 150ml of water and turn to the heat down slightly, and let it simmer for 10 minutes with the pan lid on. Keep checking the masala mixture and stirring, once is starts to dry out, add another 150ml of water and let it cook for another 10 minutes.
Method for mince lamb mix
- Whilst the masala mixture is simmering, you can prepare the kofta mix (if you haven't already done this the night before). Get a large bowl and add the mince lamb, spices, garlic, ginger and fresh coriander.
- Then add the wholemeal bread. Make sure the crusts are cut off, then soak the bread in water one slice at a time. I usually use a food container to do this. Don't leave the bread in the water too long, otherwise the slices will start to break.Once the slice has been soaked, carefully wring off the water before adding the bread to the mince. The bread helps the kofta bind and not break when you cook them.
- Once the bread has been added, mix everything in the bowl thoroughly. I use my hands to do this.
- Next you will need to make the koftas. I like to mould them in my hands and set them to one side, ready to be cooked in the masala. Grab a generous tablespoon of the mince mixture and mould into balls in your hands.
- Ensure the balls and firmly rolled into a ball in your hands, again this helps to minimise the chance of the koftas breaking during cooking. If you find the mince is sticking to your hands, you can dip your hands in warm water then mould the kofta balls.
Method for combining masala and koftas together
- Add the kofta balls carefully to the masala in the pan, let them cook for a few minutes, until you can see the mince is browning on the top side of the koftas. Then carefully flip the koftas over, so the raw mince side is now cooking in the masala. Let the koftas cook for a few minutes on this side.
- The masala will start to dry out as the koftas cook. Add around 200 ml of hot/boiling water to the pan, cover with the pan lid and turn the heat down. Cook for around 10-15 minutes, keep checking the pan on an adhoc basis. You may need to add more water if the pan masala is drying out.
- Once the koftas have cooked, add the garam masala powder and more freshly chopped coriander. Serve with boiled eggs and chapatis, enjoy!
