Mamta’s Indian Lamb Meatball Curry | The Keema Sutra

52 comments

PARTNEREDPOSTYesterday I shared the news that my mum Mamta is one of the two Keema Nans working with Simply Beef and Lamb on their latest campaign, The Keema Sutra. Two of mum’s most delicious keema recipes are in the Keema Sutra flipbook , along with many of her tips for cooking Indian food.

Watch her show you how to make her Indian Lamb Meatball Curry in this short video and then have a go yourself.

Keema meatballs 1 MINI

 

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5 from 3 votes

Mamta’s Indian Lamb Meatball Curry

Lamb mince makes delicious kofta (meat balls) which can be added to any curry sauce that you like. This meatball curry is really delicious, perfect to serve for a special meal. Despite the long list of ingredients, this curry is easy to make and relatively inexpensive too.
These meatballs can also be served plain as a snack or starter – you can even squish them into flat burger patties and serve in mini burger buns. Just shallow fry in a pan and serve with a fresh green chutney or your choice of condiment.
For the curry, the meatballs are dropped into the curry gravy raw and simmered until cooked through.
If you like, make double the quantity of meatballs and freeze half to use another day.
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

  • 450 g lamb mince
  • 1 egg , lightly beaten
  • 2 slices white bread (2 small or 1 large slice), roughly broken up
  • 1 medium onion , peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 ¼ cm piece of fresh root ginger , peeled
  • 2-3 cloves garlic , peeled
  • 1-2 green chillies (adjust to taste. If you do not have green chillies, add red chillies to taste)
  • 1 ½ tsp salt , or to taste
  • ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • A few fresh coriander leaves (or mint if you prefer)

For the curry sauce:

  • 30 ml vegetable oil , for cooking
  • 1 medium onion , peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2-3 cloves garlic , peeled
  • 2 ½ cm piece of fresh root ginger , peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 2-3 large cardamoms , broken slightly with a mortar
  • 6-8 whole black peppercorns
  • 6 whole cloves
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 5 cm piece of cinnamon stick or cassia bark
  • ½ tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp ground turmeric
  • ½ tsp ground chilli powder , adjust to taste
  • 1 tsp mild ground sweet paprika , for colour
  • salt , to taste
  • 2 medium tomatoes , finely chopped, or use 200g chopped tinned tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 550 ml water (adjust for how thick you want the curry to be)
  • 1 tsp garam masala (see notes)
  • 2 tbsp freshly chopped coriander leaves

Notes

Mamta recommends making your own garam masala for a more intense and aromatic flavour. Her homemade garam masala recipe is here.

Instructions

To make the meatballs:

  • Place all meat ball ingredients, except the lamb and egg, in a food processor and process finely. If you do not have a food processor, grate the bread, great or finely chop the onion, ginger, garlic and chillies and then add the other ingredients.
  • Place the lamb in a large bowl. Add the onion mix and the egg. Mix well by hand or with a large spoon. Transfer to an airtight container, cover and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight to marinate. This helps the flavours to infuse.
  • Shape the mixture into 20 walnut-sized balls. Wetting your fingers and palms with water helps.

To make the meatball curry:

  • Heat the oil in a pan, then add the whole spices – cumin seeds, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and cardamoms.
  • When the cumin seeds begin to sizzle, add the curry sauce onion, ginger and garlic.
  • Fry until golden to dark brown. Be patient, this stage can take a while.
  • Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, ground coriander, turmeric, chilli powder, paprika and salt. Cook until the oil separates or the mix looks shiny.
  • Add the water, bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer.
  • Add the meatballs one by one to the simmering (not boiling) sauce.
  • Allow to simmer without the lid for about 20 minutes or so (closing the lid sometimes makes the meat balls break up), gently turning the meatballs over and shaking the pan from time to time.
  • When meat balls are ready, any oil will separate and float to the top of the sauce. Add half the coriander leaves and garam masala, stir gently and transfer to a serving dish.
  • Garnish with remaining coriander and serve hot with freshly made chapattis, steamed rice or plain pilaf rice.

Tip

To serve meat balls as a snack heat a little oil in a shallow pan. Add a few meat balls at a time and fry them on medium heat, turning over frequently, until they are nicely browned and meat is cooked through. Garnish with salad and serve with mint and coriander chutney, chilli sauce or tomato ketchup.

Mamta Gupta 12 MINI Mamta Gupta 15 MINI Mamta Gupta 20 MINI

Do visit the Keema Sutra flipbook for more wonderful keema recipes that will show you how delicious, versatile and family-friendly keema can be.

Save this recipe to Pinterest for later using this handy collage image.

The Keema Sutra - Mamtas Indian Meatball Curry Recipe

Made the recipe? Let us know how you enjoyed it in the comments!

Browse our full collection of curry recipes from around the world.

Kavey Eats and Mamta’s Kitchen were commissioned by Simply Beef and Lamb to participate in this campaign. Photography by Simply Beef and Lamb.

Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!
52 Comments to "Mamta’s Indian Lamb Meatball Curry | The Keema Sutra"

  1. kaveyeats

    Thank you Fiona, that’s really kind. Mamta’s Kitchen has been going 15 years now, so this is a lovely way for mum to reach a new audience too.

    Reply
  2. Diana

    Your Mum is so cool! And the recipes are great I’ve tried the lamb keema, then we stuffed some pancakes with the keema, turned out very yummy!

    Reply
  3. Emma @ Supper in the Suburbs

    What an amazing opportunity for your mum! I bet she’s got lots of wonderful tips and tricks for authentic Indian cooking! I can’t wait to see more. This recipe looks fab. I love lamb in Indian food but would never have thought about turning them into meatballs. Delicious!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    She does indeed and several are in the keema sutra flipbook. Meatball curry is one of my favourites!

    Reply
  7. Lucy

    I’ve made keema before but never kofta meatballs, will definitely be trying this recipe, my family will love it.

    Reply
  10. Choclette

    Great to see these wonderful pictures of your mum. The curry looks excellent. CT would be devouring it if ever he was lucky enough to got a chance.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Haaa, thanks and yes I really like the photos they took. They had a stills photo guy there as well as the film crew.

    Reply
  14. Elizabeth

    I made this recipe for my family at the weekend and even the kids ate it, which is a HUGE win for me given how fussy they are, lol! Love these photos of your Mum cooking. Everyone needs a keema nan!

    Reply
  15. Laura@howtocookgoodfood

    You are so lucky to have a mum that cooks as well as yours and I love browisng your family website for curries, I just want them all but this lamb meatball curry is divine. Well done to your mum for making her first video appearance!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Mum’s always been a fantastic cook. When we were kids, she would not only make wonderful Indian food but also learn and make chinese, italian, greek and so on from cookery books. And British, of course!

    Reply
  16. Anyonita

    Mamta’s meatballs look absolutely decadent! I’ve got some lamb to use up, so I’ll certainly be trying this recipe; it’s right up my street!

    Reply
  19. Snigdha (of Snig's Kitchen)

    Oh wow, Kavey! This is fantastic in every way! Fantastic recipe! Fantastic to see your mum being recognised for her brilliance! Fantastic to see Pervin Todiwala is part of this project! Fantastic cookbook! Thank you for this post. I love it!

    Reply
  23. Mamta Gupta

    PS: There would be no mamtaskitchen website without Pete and you. So, thank you daughter 🙂
    I was just thinking, when we named our website, there weren’t many ‘kitchens’ on the web. Now every ones recipe collection is called a kitchen :)!

    Reply
  25. Henna Begum

    This recipe reminds me of my mums. Going to marinate the mince tonight and cook for dinner tomorrow. Can’t wait my mouth is already watering!

    Reply
  26. Nigel Gaspar

    Delicious – a revelation; really zingy freshness to delight. Thank you Mamta G!

    Reply

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