Spicy lamb kofta curry
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Medium
- August 2014

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Serves 4-6
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Hands-on time 40 min, simmering time 1 hour
Debbie Major’s wonderful lamb kofta curry recipe is made from scratch and full of flavour and spice. An impressive dish to serve at a dinner party.
- Calories
- 522kcals
- Fat
- 43.7g (25.3g saturated)
- Protein
- 27.8g
- Carbohydrates
- 8.9g (5.7g sugars)
- Fibre
- 2.2g
- Salt
- 0.1g
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp cardamom seeds (from green cardamom pods)
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1½ tsp medium-hot chilli powder or cayenne pepper
- 6 tbsp ghee or sunflower oil
- 4 medium onions, finely chopped
- 6 fat garlic cloves, crushed
- 5cm piece fresh ginger, grated
- 2 long, medium-hot red cayenne chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
- 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
- 300g skinned chopped tomatoes, fresh or from a tin
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 300ml fresh chicken stock or water
- 200ml coconut cream
- 750g lean British lamb mince
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
- 1½ tbsp beaten free-range egg
- Small handful fresh curry leaves
- 5 green cayenne chillies, slit open lengthways
Method
- Heat a dry, heavy-based frying pan over a high heat. Add the coriander and cumin seeds and shake for a few seconds until they darken slightly and smell fragrant.
- Grind the toasted spices to a fine powder in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar. Add the cardamom seeds and grind to a fine powder, then mix with the turmeric, garam masala and chilli powder/cayenne pepper.
- Heat half the ghee/oil in a large, wide pan. Add the onions and fry gently for 7-10 minutes until soft and golden. Add the garlic, ginger and red chillies and fry for 2 minutes. Add the ground spices and 1 tsp salt and cook for 2 minutes more. Scrape half the mixture into a mixing bowl to cool.
- Add the cinnamon to the onion mixture in the pan and cook gently for 2-3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, stock/water and half the coconut cream, then bring to a gentle simmer.
- Add the lamb, chopped coriander, beaten egg and 1 tsp salt to the bowl of fried onions and gently mix to combine (if you overwork the mix the meatballs will become hard). Shape into golf ball-size meatballs.
- Heat the remaining ghee/oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the meatballs, in batches if necessary, and fry for 2-3 minutes, turning now and then, until lightly browned all over.
- Drop the browned meatballs into the simmering sauce. Add the curry leaves and green chillies, part-cover and simmer gently for 1 hour, stirring now and then, or until the sauce is thickened. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary, then spoon the curry into a warmed serving dish and drizzle with some of the remaining coconut cream. Serve with steamed basmati or pilau rice, if you like.
delicious. tips
Fresh curry leaves are available from Asian grocers, some supermarkets and online. If you can’t find any, use dried curry leaves (available from large supermarkets) – they’re not as flavourful, so add more to taste.
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