Nargisi kofte

This recipe is a result of my passion for fusion cuisine. I am highly impressed and inspired by the idea of fusion cooking. It is nothing but a marriage of different cultures that gives you a single eating experience where imagination is the limit!

The traditional nargisi kofta is usually stuffed with boiled eggs or onion chutney (chopped onions and green chillies mixed with yoghurt). I didn’t like biting into a kofta and eating the boiled egg. It was like eating two different things in one. Anything stuffed I feel should give a unique combined taste. So I mixed mint chutney with the hard boiled yolks and stuffed the mixture in the boiled egg whites before enclosing them with the kofta dough. They were basically devilled eggs with the mint chutney egg yolk filling, stuffed inside the koftas – something different, yet a marriage of two different cultures – the East and the West! I also tried mixing mashed egg yolks with cheddar cheese and it tasted really good with the melted cheese inside. Well, you can go on trying different combinations and the sky is the limit!

Ingredients:
1 lb Lamb or Beef
1/2 cup Channa dal lentils
4-6 small green chillies
6 cloves
6 green Cardamom
1 onion small
4 medium garlic  cloves
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp red chilly powder
salt to taste
4 hard boiled eggs
2 tbs mint chutney
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (grated)
1 cup vegetable oil for deep frying

Instructions:
1. Clean and wash the meat (lamb or beef), cut into cubes or chunks.
2. Clean and wash the channa dal.
3. Take a pot and add the washed dal and the meat cubes and all the other ingredients except the hard boiled eggs.
4. Cook on medium heat with the lid on till you see steam coming out.
5. Open the lid, give it a stir and check to see if the meat has stiffened a bit and is no longer pink.
6. Remove from the stove. Let it cool for a while.
7. Pick out the whole spices (cloves and cardamoms) from it and keep aside.
8. Pick out the meat pieces as well and set aside.
9. Grind the rest of the cooked ingredients in a wet grinder. If the dal (lentils) is moist with a little water left at the bottom, then do not add any more water. This would be sufficient enough to grind the dal. Otherwise add 2 tbs of water and grind the dal finely with the green chillies, onion and garlic.
10. Remove the dal mixture and set aside.
11. Now add the meat pieces to the grinder and just shred them by pulsing 2 or 3 times.
12. Pound the cloves and cardamom using a mortar & pestle and crush them fine.
13. Combine the ground dal mixture and the shredded meat in the wet grinder along with some cilantro (1/4 cup) salt and the ground whole spices by pulsing till everything is well blended. The kofta dough is now ready. If the dough feels too dry (if you use beef you could expect this) sprinkle a little bit of water or knead it well with wet hands.
14. Take a little kofta dough the size of an egg and roll it into a small ball in the palm of your hand. Make small balls of the same size with the entire kofta dough.
15. Peel the hard boiled eggs, cut into two halves breadthwise and set aside.
16. Pick the hard boiled yolks from the halved eggs, mash them, sprinkle a little salt & pepper then mix with 2 tbs of the mint chutney. If you are not using chutney add the grated cheese to the mashed yolks, do not add salt as the cheese is salty enough.
17. Fill the hard boiled egg whites with the mashed yolk & mint chutney filling or cheese filling to make devilled egg halves.

18. Take one kofta dough ball, make a depression in the centre, widen it so that it is big enough to hold the devilled egg half.
19. Cover it completely with the kofta dough. Repeat the same process for all of them.
20. Deep fry them in hot oil till crispy and golden. Serve hot with ketchup or mint chutney. Enjoy!

Mint Chutney ingredients:
1 cup fresh Mint leaves
1/2 cup cilantro
2 cloves garlic
4-6 small green chillies
1/2 tamarind (seedless)
Salt to taste.

Instructions:
Grind all the above ingredients together with a little salt. Your chutney is ready for the stuffing. For serving the chutney with snacks add a tomato and an onion (both small size) and pulse one or two times after grinding the above ingredients.

Notes:
1. You can make variations of the stuffing for this recipe. Use different chutneys or sauces or combine the egg yolks with different seasonings to fill in the boiled eggs.

2. You could also mix the ground dal mixture with the shredded meat by hand, actually I prefer it this way, though it is a little time consuming, I love the end result. When  you pulse to mix everything the shreds of the meat are lost as they get ground. but when you combine everything manually the shreds are still there and give an overall defined texture to the kofte. You realize this when you bite into them. I feel they are more tasty too. Still it is personal preference.

3. The oil should be hot enough to sizzle and sear the kofte but not too hot to burn them.

You may also like my other kofte recipes:

Fried lamb/beef/veal kofte

Fried Shrimp Kofte

Lamb kofta curry

Red bell peppper chicken kofta curry

Recipe

Nargisi kofte

Author: Fouzia Husainy

Traditional kofte stuffed with boiled eggs

Course Deep fried, glutenfree, Non Vegetarian side dish, stuffed

Cuisine South Indian muslim Cuisine

Equipment

• Cast iron wok

Ingredients

  

• Ingredients:
• 1 lb Lamb or Beef
• 1/2 cup Channa dal lentils
• 4-6 small green chillies
• 6 cloves
• 6 green Cardamom
• 1 onion small
• 4 medium garlic  cloves
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp red chilly powder
• salt to taste
• 4 hard boiled eggs
• 2 tbs mint chutney
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese grated
• 1 cup vegetable oil for deep frying
• Mint Chutney ingredients:
• 1 cup fresh Mint leaves
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4-6 small green chillies
• 1/2 tamarind seedless
• Salt to taste.

Instructions

 

• Clean and wash the meat (lamb or beef), cut into cubes or chunks. 
• Clean and wash the channa dal.
• Take a pot and add the washed dal and the meat cubes and all the other ingredients except the hard boiled eggs.
• Cook on medium heat with the lid on till you see steam coming out.
• Open the lid, give it a stir and check to see if the meat has stiffened a bit and is no longer pink.
• Remove from the stove. Let it cool for a while.
• Pick out the whole spices (cloves and cardamoms) from it and keep aside.
• Pick out the meat pieces as well and set aside.
• Grind the rest of the cooked ingredients in a wet grinder. If the dal (lentils) is moist with a little water left at the bottom, then do not add any more water. This would be sufficient enough to grind the dal. Otherwise add 2 tbs of water and grind the dal finely with the green chillies, onion and garlic.
• Remove the dal mixture and set aside.
• Now add the meat pieces to the grinder and just shred them by pulsing 2 or 3 times.
• Pound the cloves and cardamom using a mortar & pestle and crush them fine.
• Combine the ground dal mixture and the shredded meat in the wet grinder along with some cilantro (1/4 cup) salt and the ground whole spices by pulsing till everything is well blended. Alternatively you could mix and combine everything manually. It is better this way though a bit time consuming coz the shreds of meat give a defined texture to the kofte otherwise they get ground in the grinder. The kofta dough is now ready. If the dough feels too dry (if you use beef you could expect this) sprinkle a little bit of water or knead it well with wet hands.
• Take a little kofta dough the size of an egg and roll it into a small ball in the palm of your hand. Make small balls of the same size with the entire kofta dough.
• Peel the hard boiled eggs, cut into two halves breadthwise and set aside.
• Pick the hard boiled yolks from the halved eggs, mash them, sprinkle a little salt & pepper then mix with 2 tbs of the mint chutney. If you are not using chutney add the grated cheese to the mashed yolks, do not add salt as the cheese is salty enough.
• Fill the hard boiled egg whites with the mashed yolk and mint chutney filling or cheese filling to make devilled egg halves.
• Take one kofta dough ball, make a depression in the centre, widen it so that it is big enough to hold the devilled egg half.
• Cover it completely with the kofta dough. Repeat the same process for all of them.
• Deep fry them in hot oil till crispy and golden. Serve hot with ketchup or mint chutney. Enjoy!
• For the Mint Chutney: Grind all the above ingredients together with a little salt. Your chutney is ready for the stuffing.
• For serving the chutney with snacks add a small tomato and a small onion and pulse one or two times after grinding the above ingredients.

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