Trial and error (6): Chicken meat ball curry

I have to admit that during Christmas vacations I took it real easy. There was more ordering in of food and little of proper cooking. The snow storms that struck the city, also struck my enthusiasm. But with the new year not being so new any more and my birthday a week away I seem to be getting my drive back. So I thought of trying my hand at something I had made a long time back: Chicken meat ball curry.

There are two reasons that I have shied away from this one up until now: (1) the first time that I did make it I remember the meat balls broke when cooking and (2) the high standards that my husband holds with respect to this dish. He has grown up eating this delicious lamb meat ball curry which his aunts make. But the recipe is really intricate. So as a start I decided as usual to find an easier route.

How I did it?
I have been following Bong Mom's CookBook blog for a while. To be honest I love her writing, the stories that precede the recipes. Plus, the photos of the dishes do give confidence that she is good at what she does. Searching through her repertoire I found this post: http://www.bongcookbook.com/2009/06/kofta-curry-and-then.html and followed the instructions without deviating much. As I did not have cashew nuts and yoghurt I left them out.

Notes on cooking technique.
What is interesting is that Bong Mom's Cookbook tells that you can do the koftas (meat balls) three ways. You can fry them and serve as a starter, make them into a curry or use to make a pulao. I tried the first two and in both cases the meat balls came out nice and soft. In the meat balls mix along with coriander leaves I also added some mint leaves to give it a tangy taste. Though it wasn't mentioned I used 1 egg for binding. I have to admit that I added less salt in the meat balls. This was worked as far as the curry was concerned because the meat balls absorb the saltiness from the gravy when left standing. But it did leave the plain fried koftas wanting.
       
       I first made the meat ball mix and refrigerated it. While it was in there I began working on making the gravy. As the onions, tomatoes and ginger-garlic need to be cooked and cooled first before blending into a paste, by the time I was done 45 min had gone which was the more than the minimum time (30 min) for the meat balls mix to marinate.

My verdict.
Given that it was rather cold in the evening when I made this recipe it did not take me too long to cook it. I do intend to make it again with one variation of adding coconut milk. I think it will make it tastier.

Here is the final photo after much of the meat balls had been devoured:

Meat balls in curry and as an appetizer

We are in another year

(Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/)

As per tradition I should have written a post on the last day of 2013 marking the first anniversary of Write Around the Corner. But loads of work thanks to my project review mid-January, an immediate and opposite reaction to go into inertness following its completion and the desire to keep myself warm inside a quilt in this winter weather, held me from blogging my thoughts into words. And before I could help it, here I am already 25 days into the new year.

Looking back there were some promises that I had made when 2013 had just started. They were:

To communicate more with those I care for. 
To write on this blog regularly.
To take time out for doing the things that I used to like to do.
To increase my enthusiasm for cooking.
To reduce my complaint reports to a minimum.

Reviewing myself I scored in a few, failed in a couple of them and interestingly accomplished a thing or two that I hadn't even listed. The curious reader might wonder what are then my plans for the remaining 340 days? Honestly they are pretty much the same as above.

If you were to read that post of mine (see here) then you will find me relying solely on "my will" to achieve my goals. I have come to realise that it was highly audacious of me to have said so. Reading Chapter 4 of the book of James of the New Testament one November morning is what shook me up, as its following verses say:

13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit";
14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
15 Instead you ought to say "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that".
16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

So, this year there is going to be one big difference. This time while making every effort towards arriving at the end results that I desire, I will also entrust those very desires to the Lord's will.