Meatball Curry

This dish is best made with lamb mince. Today I have made it with beef mince - and it still tastes good, jut that I prefer lamb just for this dish.  I had a very tasty version of this in my friend Munavar's house in Chennai once.  That is when I realized that you didn't need to cook the meatballs before dropping them in the gravy.  Until then I used to deep fry the meat balls and then drop them in the gravy.

This is why it is good fun to cook with friends and watch others cooking because you learn new things all the time.

My children love this dish and so I make it a fair bit.

Ingredients:

For meat balls:

500 gm lamb / beef mince
1 onion - chopped very finely for mince
3-4 chillies - chopped very finely for mince (use less if you want less heat)
salt to taste for mince
1 egg - for mince

Method: 
Add all above ingredients mix well and make 20 - 25 meat balls.

Keep aside.

For gravy :

Ingredients:

1 onion - chopped
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
1 tin canned tomatoes (so you can get a thick red gravy)
2 teaspoons chilli powder (use kashmiri chilli powder to get a rich red colour)
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala (pound together 2-3 cloves,a bit of cinnamon,1/2 a star anise, 10 pepper corns, 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds and 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds)

2 Indian bay leaves (Note:  Indian Bay leaves and the bay leaves you get from the supermarket are two different things.  See note below)
coriander leaves to garnish
salt to taste
A tablespoon oil

Method:

In a thick bottomed saucepan, heat oil and add cumin seeds.  When they sizzle, add the onions and ginger garlic paste. When the onions turn transparent, add the turmeric, coriander and chilli powders.  Saute for a minute and add the tinned tomatoes and bay leaves.

Add 2 cups water, mash the tomatoes and let the gravy develop - and when you see the oil float on top, slowly slide in the meat balls.

Add the garam masala.  Let it cook for five minutes on one side. Gently flip over the meat balls and close the lid and cook for a further 15 minutes in a low flame.

After it is cooked, check for salt and add if needed.  Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice.  I made Jeera Rice to go with the meat ball curry.  You can find the recipe for Jeera Rice here:

http://kitchenanugraha.blogspot.com/2020/05/jeera-rice-cumin-rice.html

A note about Bay leaves:

Indian Bay leaves are from the tree called Cinnamonum Tamala - a tree native to India.  You can purchase the dry leaves from the Indian grocer.

Bay leaves you get in the supermarket (Coles, Woolworths, etc) - is from the tree called Laurus Nobilis.  You often get fresh leaves that you can freeze for later use.