An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [27]
To serve: Gently spoon out the koftas into a heated serving dish, taking care not to break them. Stir the sauce and pour it over them.
Sprinkle the parsley and onion and cardamom on top. This dish can be served with plain boiled rice, moong dal, and a cucumber and tomato salad, at its simplest. (As a child I used to love this combination. On Sundays, we very often substituted Karhi for the dal.) At a banquet, you could garnish it with vark and serve it with Chicken Biryani, Carrots and Peas with Ginger and Chinese Parsley, and Yogurt with Spinach.
At picnics, it goes well with stale pooris or parathas and pickles.
Made a little smaller, the koftas can be served with drinks.
Warn diners not to eat the whole spices, but to leave them delicately at one side of their plate!
Nargisi koftas (large meatballs stuffed with hard-boiled eggs)
SERVES 4
Koftas, as you know by now, are meatballs. Nargis is the Indian word for the narcissus flower. Why these particular meatballs are considered narcissuslike, I am not too sure. I can only guess that when cut in half (they are nearly always served that way) these egg-filled koftas remind some people of the yellow and white spring flower.
Nargisi koftas are definitely not an everyday dish in India. It may be my particular experience, but I have eaten them only at weddings and banquets. You, of course, need not limit yourself this way! They are not difficult to make, look beautiful, and taste quite marvelous. They are actually meatballs stuffed with whole hard-boiled eggs and cooked in a thick sauce.
1¼ pounds ground chuck (put through the grinder 3 times)
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground mace
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
1½ teaspoons salt (or a little more if needed)
8 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Chinese parsley (coriander greens or cilantro)
2 medium-sized onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
A piece of fresh ginger, about 1-inch cube, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 medium-sized eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 lightly crushed cardamom pods
2 bay leaves
2 whole dried hot red peppers (optional)
2 teaspoons ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika (for color)
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
If your butcher has not ground the meat 3 times, do it yourself at home. It should be very finely ground.
In a large bowl combine the meat, cloves, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, mace, black pepper, ½ teaspoon of the cumin, 1 teaspoon of the salt, 2 tablespoons of the yogurt, and the chopped Chinese parsley. Mix well, cover bowl, and leave aside.
Place onion, garlic, and ginger in container of an electric blender with 6 tablespoons water and blend to a smooth paste.
Divide the ground meat into 4 portions. Wrap one portion around each peeled hard-boiled egg, covering it well.
Heat the vegetable oil in a 10–12-inch skillet over a medium-high flame, and put in the cardamom pods and bay leaves, and the red peppers if you want them. The spices will darken in a few seconds. Now put in the four meatballs and brown them all over. Turn them carefully so as not to break them. They will brown unevenly, but don’t let that worry you. When they have browned, lift them out gently with a slotted spoon and place them on a plate.
To the same oil, add the paste from the blender container, keeping face averted, and fry, stirring, for about 10 minutes.
Now turn the flame to medium and add the coriander, the remaining 1 teaspoon cumin, and the turmeric. Keep frying and stirring for a minute. Add 1 tablespoon yogurt and stir for ½ minute. Add another tablespoon yogurt and stir for ½ minute. Repeat this process until all the yogurt has been added. Now put in the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, the paprika, the tomato sauce, and ¾ cup water. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Lift up lid and add the koftas. Cover