Nargisi Kofta

Mince covered boiled eggs in gravy

• CuisineIndian
• CategoryLamb
• CourseMains

Ingredients

• Kofta
• 500 gmsLamb mince
• 4Eggs, boiled
• 1Egg, beaten
• ½ cupPlain flour
• 20 gmsBreadcrumbs
• 50 gmsOnion, finely chopped
• 1Green chilli, finely sliced
• 20 gmsGunger, minced
• 20 gmsGarlic, minced
• 1Cardamom
• 2Cloves
• 1 pieceCinnamon
•  Oil for deep frying
•  Salt
•  Pepper
•  
• Gravy
• 300 gmsOnion, diced
• 2Green chillies, sliced
• 50 gmsGinger, minced
• 50 gmsGarlic, minced
• 1 tspCumin
• ½ tspPepper
• 4Cloves
• 3Cardamom
• 1 pieceCinnamon
• 1 tspGaram masala
• 1 tspChilli powder
• ¼ tspTurmeric
• 500 gmsTomatoes
• ½ cupCashews
• ½ cupCream
• Oil
• Salt

Preparation

1. Grind all whole spices for the kofta
2. Mix all ingredients except the boiled eggs and flour and knead
3. Season the flour with a bit of salt and pepper
4. Take each boiled egg and roll in flour
5. Take a ball of mince, flatten and cover the egg
6. Place in hot oil and fry till cooked all through
7. Place on absorbent tissue


8. Coarsely grind pepper, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon for the gravy
9. Heat oil in a pan and add the ground spices and the cumin
10. Fry onions and green chillies till soft
11. Add ginger and garlic and fry
12. Add chilli powder, turmeric and fry for a few minutes
13. Puree tomatoes and grind the cashew fine
14. Add to pan with 1 cup of water and simmer for 20 minutes
15. Add garam masala and salt to taste
16. Add the kofta and simmer till heated through


17. Before serving, remove koftas, cut in half and add back to the gravy

This is one of the early recipes I tried when I tried my hand at cooking. It is a two stage process. First the koftas are made and deep fried and that is followed by the gravy. The kofta is the star and the gravy just has to be adequate. In this instance, I was making a larger quantity. I tripled the kofta quantity and doubled the gravy - there is nothing worse than your guests trawling the gravy looking for a kofta.

I start off with the ingredients for the kofta. Over a bed of mince, clockwise from the top are raw egg, ground spice powder, ginger, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion and green chillies. Yes, the breadcrumbs are bright yellow - they are actually ground corn chips. They improve the taste of the koftas.

Once it is all kneaded together, it looks like this.

The next step is to prepare the koftas for deep frying. Here is the assembly line. Take the boiled eggs from top left and roll them in the seasoned flour at bottom right. Take some mince from top right and cover the boiled egg evenly about 1cm and put aside as in bottom left.

When placing in the hot oil keep rolling it around so that it cooks evenly. Left by itself, it will shrink on one side and expose the egg. Once it is cut in half, this is what it looks like.