RE: Curried Lambs Balls
Sun, 12/28/03 12:55 PM
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Getting back (I hope) to the original question here, I've got a recipe for Kabuli Kofta from Copeland Marks's book, Indian and Chinese Cooking from the Himalayan Rim.
Kabuli Kofta
Meat Balls from Kabul
The name of this dish reveals its origin. Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan, but by using it I am also implying that this is country cooking, not necessraily confined to the city of Kabul. Frontier cooking covers a lot of territory, especially since nomads take their culinary habits with them. The meat used can be goat, lamb, beef, or chicken, but goat and lamb are most frequently the meat of choice.
For the meat balls:
1 pound ground goat or lamb
1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves or 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 egg, beaten
6 dried, but soft, apricots
For the sauce:
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 inch fresh ginger, smashed
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 fresh ripe tomato, chopped (1/3 cup)
1/4 teaspoon hot red chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
3 tablespoons corn oil
1 cup yoghurt, beaten
1 cup water
1. Prepare the meat balls: Mix all ingredients, except the apricots. Divide the mixture into 6 equal parts and roll each part into a ball. Stuff each ball with an apricot. Roll the ball again to encase the fruit and set aside.
2. Prepare the sauce: Grind the garlic, ginger, onion, and tomato together to a paste in a food processor. Add the chili powder, paprika, salt, and turmeric and mix well.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet, add the spice paste, and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Add the yoghurt and continue to cook slowly for 5 minutes. Add the water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add the meat balls to the sauce, cover the pan, and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes to thicken the sauce. Serve warm with rice, breads, and chutney.
The best bread to serve it with, of course, is Afghan bread. This is probably hard to find outside an ethnic area, however. It's a large flat bread, about 8" wide by 2 feet or so long, torn into bits. If you can't get it, however, you might try this, also from the same book.
Bizari Haths
Bazaar Bread
This is the daily Armenian flat bread, with little or no leavening. There was a time when this bread could be purchased at the bazaar bakery, but now that the community has dwindled to a handful of families, the bread is prepared at home (Marks's tour of Asia was as much Anthropological as Culinary in nature.)
3 1/2-4 cups of flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter) or butter, melted
2-3 tablespoons cold water
A good pinch of baking powder
Oil for the baking tray
1. Mix all the ingredients together, except the oil, to form a firm but flexible dough. (Adjust the amounts of flour and water, as needeed.) Let stand, covered, at room temperature for 1 hour.
2. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 6-inch round.
3. Lightly oil a baking tray. Put the loaves in one layer on the tray and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until colored a light brown. Serve warm with butter, cheese, or Mis and Khasho, pureed. (Mis and Khasho is a Lamb and Vegetable soup.)
