juicy lamb kofta

I am not 100% sure if these really qualify for being kofta, but they are my version and they are extremely delicious. I serve them with yoghurt with finely diced cucumber mixed in, Thai sweet chilli sauce (heretical I expect) and simple basmati rice cooked with butter and onions (more later).

Buy some lamb mince, how much is up to you, depends on your greed and number of mouths to feed.

Decant it into a mixing bowl. Add in one finely chopped red onion, one inch of finely chopped or grated fresh ginger, three cloves of finely chopped garlic, one finely chopped red chilli (nice and hot preferably), and a smallish handful of chopped fresh coriander.

Give it a rough mix.

The add a teaspoon of Turmeric, a teaspoon of cumin, half teaspoon of ground ginger and a smidgeon of chilli powder.

Then plunge your lovely clean hands into the mix and knead like its dough. You'll need to wash your hands after this otherwise you might get hot chilli in sensitive places. Fresh lemon juice is good for this.

Then make up as many lozenge shaped rounds of lamb mix as you can, make sure they are pressed hard together so the ingredients bind.

In a saucepan melt a knob of butter, when sizzling fry and chopped onion (any variety), and brown. Then add a cup full of rice and salt to taste. Coat the rice with butter then add a coup and a half of cold water to the pan, bring to the boil, put the lid on, turn down the heat and let it simmer for ten mins. Turn off the heat and let it stand for ten more minutes.

While the rice is standing, fry the kofta in hot oil until they are browned and crunchy on all sides. Serve immediately with some coriander leaves, the yoghurt, rice and chilli sauce.

A red or white wine is good too. But then I would say that.