Rob’s Meatball Curry

Kia ora Koutou, given the recent news hot topic, which is our latest Free Trade Agreement to the east, perhaps a Curry is the dish for this week’s newsletter.

Having spent time growing up in Fiji, our family were exposed to and fell in love with the local Indian community cuisine. Moving back to New Zealand, it was a bonus to see that an Indian family had purchased a local shop and commenced their fruit and vege business. The best part was we would trade freshly caught mullet, flounder and snapper for their ready-made masala. Ever since those balmy days in the 70s, I have been an avid spice student.

Masala, a generic term for the freshly ground blend of herbs and spices used in many an Indian dish. Curry, the word, not the dish, was actually a colonial term to cover the wide and varied spices and spice mixes used in Indian cuisine. Long before the word Curry was invented, Masala was the local terminology for freshly ground spice mixes. Curry, it seems, dates back to the Tamil word “Kari”, which meant sauce, and thereafter our British Empire cousins adopted the word we now know as Curry.

Nowadays it is easy to wander any grocery aisle and find a plethora of Curry pastes, each unique to a particular geography of the world. Vibrant and colourful, hot or not, many of them create fabulous stand-alone meals or incredible bases for our own inner Julia Child to tinker with.

With a deadline looming and very little (loose terminology meaning “Nothing”) to present for Galley Gourmet, it was time to pull out the Curry card.

Ingredients:

1 jar of paste

1 can coconut cream

1 cup of rice

1 kg fresh beef mince (this was already in the fridge, hence the decision to make meatballs)

Method:

Firstly, add a binder through the mince; I used breadcrumbs and cornflour, and then seasoning. Salt and lots of black pepper to suit my taste. Make meatballs of a size that suits you. Then, with a generous knob of coconut oil in a medium-hot pan, lob in your meatballs and brown off as much of the surface area as you dare. Put aside your browned meatballs. If you were to open them up now, they should be medium rare in the middle.

Leave the fond (the brown caramelised almost burnt bits) in the pan, medium-high heat again, add another dollop of oil and in with your jar of chosen spice paste. Let the aromatics loosen, warm and release, then in with a can of your favourite coconut cream (I only use Kara brand). Add back your meatballs and bring the pot to a simmer for 10-15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the pot rest, lid on, for 10 minutes before you serve. Serve over steamed medium-grain white rice and top off with your preferred herbs, nuts, and fried shallots.

Kia nui te kai