Chicken Kofta Curry

I made this dish and cumin-scented Basmati rice for our Indian Curry Cookoff at One to One on September 14th, 2011. Since I hadn't made this particular Indian dish before, I followed a recipe I found online and changed a number of seasoning items to make it my own. I would make it a bit spicier next time if I knew my guests were all into heat. As I was finishing the dish, I felt it needed a little more flavor and added in a few tablespoons of mild curry paste. The addition of garam masala next time may reduce the need for that much curry paste.

Chicken Kofta Curry

Ingredients:

• 4 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 4 lbs ground chicken
• 4 tablespoons minced garlic
• 4 tablespoons grated fresh ginger or ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoon chili powder (or to taste - I used three, but might add more next time)
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• several grinds of pepper
  
• 4 tablespoons (or more) ghee (clarified butter found in Indian stores) or vegetable oil
• 1 large or 2 small onions, diced small
• 10-15 fresh curry leaves (or substitute 1 teaspoon curry powder)
• 1-3 tablespoons mild curry paste (optional)
  
• 2 cans canned tomatoes, chopped (prefer petite diced) - (can drain or reserve liquid if you need to add some later)
• 1 can coconut milk
• salt, pepper

Note: though the recipe didn't call for it, next time I will add in 1-2 tablespoons of garam masala (Indian spice mix that you can make or purchase at the store) to both the meatball mix and sauce.

Directions:

1. Mix the first three spices together in a small bowl; set aside.
2. Place the chicken, two tablespoons each of the garlic and ginger; the turmeric, chili powder, flour, eggs, salt and half the spice mix you set aside in a large bowl and mix well.
3. Form into golf ball sized meatballs.
4. Heat half the ghee or oil in a pan and brown the balls; drain on paper towel lined plate and set aside. Will need to do this in batches - add more ghee or oil as necessary and heat before adding meatballs.
   
5. Heat the remaining oil and cook the onions for 5-7 minutes or until translucent, tender. Add the curry leaves (or curry powder) and remaining mix of ground spices, garlic and ginger to the pan and cook for a further 2 to 3 minutes.
6. [I found that my sauce didn't have as much flavor as I would like and added 2-3 tablespoons of mild curry paste from a jar - I added it after step 7, after tasting the sauce, but here is the preferred stage to add it.]
   
7. Add the tomatoes and coconut milk; simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add the meatballs, and simmer gently for another 20 minutes.

Note: as you can see, this makes a very large batch. I'm sure you can easily and successfully cut the recipe in half.