Nargis-i-kofte

Hello there,

A nice Sunday to all! And by that i mean, lazying around, gossips, family time and of course, of course good food. But who wants to labour over food on a Sunday, yet all we want is comforting and yummy food on the table. That perfectly normal you know!!

But these strange things do happen in our everyday life. Trust me, they do!! And the magic is you, or the one responsible and loving enough to keep you happy. I guess once u love somebody the story of that affection continues, once loved always treasured. Well, i should be the last person to talk about all these mush, as I somehow don’t get to keep my love. They always fly away!! Alas, poor men. By the time they will realise what treasure they left behind, i guess i would be permanently owned up by somebody. Lol!! High expectations i know.

Never mind, quickly coming back to my recipe and its origin.

We all have heard of Scotch eggs, a British version of our very own “dim-er devil” as we fondly call in Bengali. But why Bengalis should take the pride in this, the Mughals had created an apt answer for this beautiful English food much before. And they named it : Narghis-i kofte!! (My friend Ambrish told me to look up the meaning of this name, but i am suddenly interested in love and nothing else. Nomenclature isn’t in my head anywhere currently. Chill, its one sided and there,s no mush!!)

Here goes the recipe:

Mutton mince: 400 gm

Hard boiled eggs: 8 nos (boiled for 10 mins)

Marinate the mince with chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic and 2 roughly chopped green chillies, then i made a fine paste of it with a little dash of water. You can give this step of mixer grinder a miss if your butcher is good at mincing. My one is lazy enough to add burden on me!!

Scrape out the grinder bowl and pour the mix in a bowl. Add 2 tsp heaped besan (gram flour), 1 egg, finely chopped onion, 1tbsp ginger-garlic paste, 1tbsp badam paste (i used peanuts with a bit of seaseme. Didn’t have almonds of cashews at home), a handful finely chopped coriander leaves and 1 finely chopped green chilli with its seed, 1tsp black pepper powder, 1 tsp chilli flakes, 1 tsp red chilli powder, 1tsp cumin & coriander powder and quarter tsp cinnamon powder. Give this all a good mix. I used my hands o mix it all together. Keep it aside to rest and for all flavours to get infused for about 15-20 mins.

De-shell your eggs and season them with a bit of salt and pepper.

Once the mince has rested, wet your hands and grease a plate. Divide the mince into eight portions. Now time to show some seriousness towards your craft!! Take one portion of mine and spread it in the palm of your hand (well size matters is what i learnt after the exercise). With a lot of love place an egg (the boiled and de-shelled one) in the middle of the mix. Now hide the white opaque beauty behind a layer of this meaty beauty. Be patient. It might take a couple of stances or the first two-three. Trust me you will be a pro at it after that. It kind of gives you a sense of achievment.

Repeat the above step of wrapping with all the eggs.

Now one, can deep fry it and get done with making these. I wanted to feel less guilty and still devour one of this Dinosour egg (trust me, that’s what they look like!! Or is it just my imagination! One can also call these oval bombs. Btw, I saw this recipe being cooked by chef Ranveer Brar on television).

I boiled some water with a big of salt, 2 bay leaves, 1 star anise, 2 cloves of garlic and half n inch of ginger. Bring it to boil and gently place all your stuffed meat balls. Bring them a gentle simmer, then cover and cook till the meat balls have changed colours. Once it starts rising on the surface, your balls are done, it is cooked through. I shallow fry it in a pan, in a combination of clarified butter (ghee) & sunflower oil. Once they brown on all sides, take them out and place them on kitchen papers to eliminate the excess oil.

In the same pan, add one big chopped onion, 2tsp ginger garlic salt and chopped finely green chillies, according to taste. Once they turn translucent, time to pour in a packet of tomato puree ( I used storebought Kissan one), cook at medium flame, till it comes to boil. Throw in one and half tsp of cumin & coriander powder, 1tsp red chilli powder, one and half tbsp badam paste adjust salt & sugar and cook till combined well. Add in the fried koftas and a handful of freshly chopped coriander. Bring in to boil, and finish it with some garam-masala powder and a dash of cream. Done!!

P:S: I strained the gravy before serving, you can give this step a miss though.

Enjoy and do let me know how you liked it.