1 1/2 lb Lamb leg; bone free
4 oz Clarified butter
4 oz Spinach
4 oz Beet root
4 oz Carrots
4 oz White cabbage
1 Cinnamon stick (3/4"); splintered
1 Red chilli
1 ts Paprika
1 pn Asafoetida
1 1/2 ts Fenugreek seeds
1 pn Saffron strands; steeped in
4 tb Water; boiling
1 ts Corn flour
1/2 lb Minced meat
2 Onions
1/2 ts Freshly ground black pepper
1 Egg white
2 tb Ground coriander seed
1 tb Ground roasted mustard seed
1/4 ts Mace
4 oz Lime juice or vinegar
4 oz Sugar
10 Almonds
2 ts Black cumin
1/2 ts Salt
Coriander or parsley; chopped
Almonds should be blanched, slivered and fried in butter.
Parch roast pound, chop etc all aromatics. Cut the lamb leg into
small pieces the size of almonds and fry in a heavy pan with half
the butter, stirring well, until dark brown. Moisten with a little
water and cook until tender. Strain liquor and reserve. Heat 1/4
of the remaining butter (1/2 oz in original quantities) add the
sliced red chilli (seeded if you want it milder) and the paprika,
and stir over low heat until butter is a rich red colour. Add half
the cinnamon (which you have splintered and broken fine) raise
heat high and put in the meat. Cover the pan, remove from the heat
and give it good shake or so. Then put in a gentle oven or place
live charcoal on top and cook for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile make meatballs (kofta) by combining the minced meat,
grated onions, black pepper and salt, white of egg, and mustard
and shape into marble sized kofta. Fry them in the remaining
butter and reserve. Beat up the sugar and lime juice (or vinegar)
with the corn flour and aromatize with fenugreek ground with
asafoetida (or the equivalent of ready ground spices). When
smooth, put in half the kofta and simmer to reduce the chasni (or
syrup) to a thick glaze. Simmer the remaining half meatballs 15-20
minutes in the reserved meat liquor, aromatising with the black
cumin.
Meanwhile, chop spinach and cabbage (or other greens), sliver
beetroot, thinly slice carrot, season lightly and simmer in 2 tb
of water until tender. Take the almond sized cooked lamb and
combine with the fried slivered almonds, ground coriander, ground
mace and the remaining (splintered thoroughly) cinnamon. Arrange
in a heavy pan. Add the cooked vegetables and on top, arrange the
chasni kofta (sweet and sour glazed) on one side, and the meat
sauce kofta on the other. Sprinkle with saffron water. Cover and
give it a dum in a gentle oven for 15 minutes, and then serve with
a light sprinkling of finely chopped coriander leaves or parsley.
