Beef Kofta Curry

I'm back on the curry wagon again, but this time with a difference. This is the Bangladeshi version of meatballs in tomato sauce. You can serve it with spagetti, with chinese noodles or with rice if you prefer. Which ever way you serve it, it's spicy and delicious.

Ingredients:
30ml coriander seeds
15ml cumin seeds
10ml garam masala
10ml paprika
2ml tandoori masala
10ml powdered tumeric
135ml vegetable oil
5ml salt
3 large onions, finely chopped
9 cloves of garlic, crushed
700g minced beef
1 egg, beaten
5ml salt
8 green cardamom seeds
6 whole cloves
3 inch cinnamon stick, broken into small pieces
200g chopped tomatoes, canned is fine
15ml tomato paste
300ml water
24 curry leaves
5 green chillies (long thin ones), slit open lengthways
5ml salt

Method:

Heat a dry, heavy-based pan over a high heat. Add the coriander and cumin seeds and shake them around for a few seconds until they darken slightly and start to give off an aromatic aroma. Tip them into a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder If you don't have one of these wonderful little machines, use a pestle and lortar. Once ground, mix in the garam masala, paprika, tandoori masala and turmeric.

Heat 100ml of the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and fry gently for 10-12 minutes until soft and lightly browned. Add the ground spices and 5ml of salt to the onions and cook gently for another 3-4 minutes. Transfer half of this mixture to a mixing bowl and leave to cool.

Add the minced beef, beaten egg and 5ml salt to the spiced onion mixture in the mixing bowl and mix together well, using your hands. Shape into about 28 golfball sized neatballs and set aside.

To the sweated onions left in the pan, add the green cardamom pods, cloves and cinnamon stick together with the tomatoes, tomato paste, 300ml water, curry leaves, chillies and another 5ml of salt and bring to a gentle simmer.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a non-stick frying pan. Add the meatballs, in batches, frying them for 2-3 minutes, turning them now and then until they are lightly browned all over. Onced browned, drop them into the sauce, part cover and simmer for 20 minutes, carefully stirring every now and then, until the meatballs are quite firm and the sauce has reduced and thickened.
Serve hot with spagetti, noodles or rice.