Naan sequitor

This recipe was inspired by a random book I found at the library called 150 Best Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and More Slow Cooker Recipes. The title definitely piqued my interest and I do love my slow cooker, but some of the recipes weren't really ones in which the benefit of the slow cooker outweighed the cost of having to wash it afterwards. ;) However, I definitely think the recipes were spot-on, and I jotted down a few to modify for the stovetop.

The main recipe that caught my eye was one for a creamy chicken kofta curry. I wondered why I hadn't made kofta before. Essentially they are just meatballs, and as Molly taught us, meatballs can be delicious without the difficult work of frying them.

Meatballs plus curry. That's a big win, right?

As I was telling David about this one night before we fell asleep, he asked, "Isn't 'beef kofta meatball' redundant? Couldn't you just say 'kofta beefball?'" Haha, I have the best husband ever.

(Side note: Our friend Jeremy's pet peeve is when people say "chai tea latte" - definitely a redundancy if I ever heard one. But if you're going to have redundancies, I'd say, let's have some beef kofta meatballs with some chai tea lattes. Yuuuum.)

Beef kofta meatball curry

adapted from book mentioned above, plus the inspiration of Molly's recipe also mentioned above

for the meatballs
2 slices white bread, processed (in food processor) into fresh breadcrumbs
1/3 cup milk
1 T garlic, minced
1 T ginger, grated
1 T curry powder*
1/4 c chopped cilantro
1 3/4 lb ground beef

for the curry
1 T olive oil
3 T butter
1 onion, diced
2 T each garlic and ginger, minced/grated
2 T curry powder
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup whipping cream (or heavy cream, for the more indulgent)
more cilantro, for garnish

In a medium bowl, combine breadcrumbs through cilantro, then mix in ground beef. I prefer to use a gloved hand to really knead everything together. Let the meat mixture sit and marinate while you prepare the curry sauce.

Using your favorite pan for this sort of thing, saute diced onion, ginger and garlic in olive oil and butter. Add curry powder and fry until fragrant. Add diced tomatoes (and juices) along with chicken broth and bring to a boil. Lower to medium -- or whatever is a comfortable temperature for dropping in meatballs without getting splattered.

Using your hands (moisten them if the process gets sticky), roll the meat mixture into rounds of your desired size. (I love doing tiny meatballs - they cook faster, and you get to eat more of them. Double win.) Drop them into the sauce, gently stirring as needed to create more room.

Let the sauce simmer until the meatballs are cooked. It can cook longer if you finish before it's time to eat.

Before serving, stir in the cream and garnish with cilantro. Serve over a steaming, fluffy bed of basmati (or Jasmine) rice. Naan if you have it. (One day we are going to open a restaurant called Naan Sequitur.)


* Yes, it's kind of lame for me to say "curry powder" because really, what does that mean? The best curry powders are custom-blended. What's not lame is that my mother-in-law personally blends curry powder for me and mails** it to me. (!) I have to ask what's in her blend because it's amazing. I'm pretty sure it has cumin, lots of coriander, and turmeric. I'll follow-up when I find out the rest. Or maybe it's a family secret and you'll never know.

** Double-not-lame: when my mother-in-law sends curry powder with homemade kimchi using overnight and the system does not deliver in time and her money is refunded!***

*** Okay, just had to put asterisks within asterisks to be crazy. After all, this post is titled "Naan Sequitor." And these posts happen during naptime so they are written really quickly and crazily!