Malabar meatball curry

One of the things hubby loved to come home with is fresh flowers(smiles) and at times a newly purchased cookery book. While I used to love the flowers, the sight of the book used to literally amuse me. I would have have barely prepared a few recipes from the last purchased book and bang, a new one would have arrived. 

One such book was Modern Cookery by Thangam Philip. A no frills, no fancy kind of book with just recipes jotted down along with a few chapters dedicated to how to go about in the kitchen with your ingredients and food. This particular book also didn''t restrict itself to a particular region or cuisine of India. Thangam Philip had it all. Pretty soon, it turned out to be the most loved and used book of mine. I thought it fitting to note down the most loved recipes of her's in this blog. 

Source: Modern Cookery for teaching and the trade by Thangam Philip
Ingredients:

For the meat balls:

• Minced meat 500 gms(beef)
• Green chillies 4
• 1 large onion
• 1" piece ginger
• salt to taste

For the curry:

• 7 Red Kashmiri chillies
• 2 short red chillies
• 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 1" piece ginger
• 8 flakes garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 6 cloves
• 1/2 " cinnamon
• 4 cardamoms
• 12 peppercorns
• 1 tsp fennel seeds(saunf)
• 2 tomatoes
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 5 tbsp water for grinding spices 

For tempering:

• 1 tbsp each oil and ghee 
• 2 sprigs curry leaves
• a pinch of mustard seeds
• 2 pods red onions or 1 small onion sliced

Method:

1. Grind the minced meat in a mixer with the ingredients mentioned in for the meat balls.
2. Add salt and form into 25 balls.
3. Dry roast the red chillies and coriander seeds.
4. Grind together along with the ginger, garlic, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, fennel seeds, turmeric powder, tomatoes and water(The paste should be thick).
5. In a vessel, heat oil and ghee together.
6. When hot, add mustard seeds.
7. As the seeds crackle, add the curry leaves and sliced onions. Fry them well till brown.
8. Add the ground curry paste and fry for 10 minutes till you get a nice aroma.
9. Rinse the mixer of the ground paste with a cup of water. Add this water to the fried paste and bring it to a boil.
10. Add the meat balls one by one to the simmering liquid. Cook over a slow fire for 20 to 30 minutes.
11. Add the coconut milk and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes. Adjust salt and serve with hot rice or bread of choice.

Minced Meat with Vegetables.

Ingredients :-

• 750 gms minced meat
• 2 big onions(finely chopped)
• 1" ginger (finely chopped)
• 6 cloves garlic(finely chopped)
• 2 tomatoes
• 150 gms green peas
• 2 big potatoes( chopped)
• pepper powder to taste
• salt to taste

Method :- Heat ghee in a vessel. Fry onions, ginger, and garlic till golden in colour. Add tomatoes to the above and fry well till it forms a paste. To this add the minced meat along with pepper powder and salt. Fry on high for 5 mts. Finally add peas and potatoes and cook on a slow flame till done. Serve hot with brown bread or roti.

Minced Meat Cutlets

This international Indian favorite appetizer is prepared by boiling and mashing potatoes,chopping up onions, finely dicing green peppers (green chilies), and cilantro (optional) combining in Indian spices such as pepper and salt.
After you combine all the components, crack one egg and use breadcrumbs for the coating. First, you dip both sides of the cutlet in eggwash. Next, you dunk the eggwashed cutlet in breadcrumbs. Lastly, you lightly fry the cutlet in hot oil. After that, enjoy warm with tomato ketchup or plain.

Ingredients :-

1. 500 gms minced meat
2. 750 gms potatoes
3. 2 large onions
4. 2 inch piece ginger
5. 6 garlic cloves
6. 1 green chilly(optional)
7. 1 tsp bafath powder(optional)
8. 2 tsp pepper powder
9. Salt to taste
10. 1 egg

Method :- Boil and mash the potatoes. Cook the minced meat with salt, drain well of all water & knead it along with the mashed potatoes. Finely chop onions, ginger, garlic, green chilly and add it to the meat potato mixture. Combine bafath & pepper powders to the above. Heat oil in a pan. Beat an egg. Shape the mixture into flat patties, dip it in the egg & shallow fry until done. Serve hot with tomato sauce.