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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

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.

Notes

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