benazir's blog

Kofta

Omg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The very night I cooked this and it was very recently.

My husband was about to come home at any moment from work and didn’t have dinner done. He knows I work my ass off for him so maybe one day late with din din is not a big problem. I was in a state of panic and I had to whip up something quickly.

As you may know most Indian and Pakistani curries are tomato and onion based. This was one dish I did in a hurry and by the time I got done he was home from work, phew relief.

I had 1 lb or 1 kilo of keema or also spelled queema which means in Urdu, means ground meat or mince. In this case either beef, chicken, turkey, veal, lamb, or even goat. I used the beef for this recipe.

I put it in a sieve the ground beef I had thawed out. It has to be rinsed off because they don’t wash the meat before grinding and I let it drain a for a few minutes. I added 1 pinch of each of cumin and coriander seeds and ground them in my mortar and pestle. In a pot I added 4 tbs of olive oil and while it was heating up I was making the meatballs. I didn’t have to use an egg or other types of binding agents to get my meatballs to take and keep its shape. If they are done right you don’t need it.

I made the meatballs or kofta as we call it in my house. Kofta means meatballs in Urdu. To an Arab however it is like a kabab. Sorry vegetarians and vegans this is a strictly meat dish. I put the koftas in the hot oil and fried them on low heat first to brown them everywhere. This is so they do not break and scatter all over the sauce. Do the same with all of them until all of the ground beef is used up.

Keep that oil from making the meat balls because it is now time to use if for the curry. Chop and add 1 onion, white, red, yellow or brown. Add it to the oil, add 1 pinch of Himalayan pink salt. They are made by shan and lazzat. I was watching this on tv or on youtube once and tried this while cooking onions they said add a little salt and it would speed up the process.

They were right on whoever said it. Thank you for whoever you are. I added 1 pinch each of turmeric red chili powder and Garam Masala. I added the coriander and cumin seeds I had ground in my mortar and pestle. I also added a small piece of ginger and 2 cloves of garlic and groud those down too. I added this to the pot too. I added 2 tbs of tomato paste along with 2 cups of water.

I stirred making sure to combine everything and I seen no more traces of tomato paste left. and well blended. I added my two cups of water and added the kofta back to the pot on low for 15 minutes. Add a large pinch of cilantro as a garnish (optional).

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