I am going on a little different curry journey today. Past few days I missed eating a good meatball recipe. But I wasn’t really in the mood for regular Italian style meatballs. I was craving for a difference style of meatball. Specifically, without any red meat in it. Mostly because I had brought some chicken breast and wanted to try out recipes chicken meatballs.
Sri Lankan meatballs curry
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I got my journal and recipe logs out and started reading through them. After little bit of research, I stumbled upon many different meatball recipes from around the world. Also, so many different methods of making them. There is no telling where the meatball originated from, but they are a delish and every culture of the world have a different name and ingredients and seasoning that go into it. Mostly made with ground beef or lamb and seasonal herbs, deep fried or grilled to perfection and finished in tangy sauce. Moving towards Asia and China I found recipes that use seafood, pork, or mixed ground meat and even tubers and finished in a soup or by steaming. I was fascinated with Italian meatballs, Dutch bitterballen, Indonesian Bakso, Indian paneer kofta, Chinese nagao yuk recipes and cooking methods. I was quite surprised about how similar Sri Lankan fish cutlets to Dutch deep-fried meatballs. Now I was dying to make some of my own.
I borrowed inspiration from Sri Lankan chicken sausage published by Ape Amma you tube channel and many other Kofta recipes. I also took elements form even Bakso and Nagao Yuk recipe. I truly believe as adults we still go seeking out the flavors we fell in love with as children. Two such flavors of mine were fish cutlets and soya meat curry. Even though I can easily find premade meatballs or soya meat chunks in grocery store, cooking from scratch and making my own is an experience I truly cherish. I am going to use the inspirations I found in my reads and make my own version of chicken and soya meat / kofta and make a spicy curry out of them.
To make this recipe you will need a food processer and steamer or big pot with steaming basket and a lid. Even though you can cook meatballs in the oven or air fryer, I am going to steam them and freeze for later use in Ziplock bags. This recipe yield about 8 pounds of meatballs.
how to make chicken meatballs from scratch
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How to make Soya meatballs fresh
How to make the curry
Spicy meatballs Curry
Ingredients
For Curry Base
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 small Tomato
- 4 Thai Green Chilies
- 1/2 cup grated fresh coconuts
- 2 tbsp Red curry seasoning base
- 1 tbsp Coconut oil
- 1 cup water
For Tempering
- half a teaspoon mustard seeds
- quarter teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- one sliced garlic clove
- one teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- two tablespoon sliced curry leaves
- one teaspoon sliced red onion
Instructions
- Marinate the meatballs in couple of teaspoons of red curry paste.
- Heat oil in a pan on high and fry the meatballs. Remove and set aside.
- Add the curry base in the same pan and cook until thick sauce forms about 15 minutes. Add the meatballs back in and cook for another minute or two. Remove from the heat.
- Heat 2 teaspoon of coconut oil in small wok. Add mustard seeds and let it crackle. Add remaining tempering ingredients to the oil and fry for few seconds until fragrant. Add on top of the meatball curry.
- Enjoy over naan or steamed rice.
