I'm addicted to meatballs: kofta style.

I really love meatballs. I'm not totally sure why. Perhaps because they are the perfect, bite sized vessels for flavor variation. It has always boggled my mind how very many versions of balls of meat exist throughout the world. From Mexican albóndigas, Italian polpette, to the unfortunately named British faggots, meatballs can be found on every continent.

Some of my favorite meatballs are fusion type balls. Few things top buffalo chicken meatballs dunked in some homemade blue cheese dip (can be as simple as a shitload of blue cheese suspended in sour cream) and I can always get behind a good plate of Swedish meatballs surrounded by dainty egg noodles, but one of my very favorite type of meatball is the kofta. Kofta can be found in the cuisines of the Middle East, South Asia, and Mediterranean, and there are a great many varieties.

I am partial to the spices of Indian kofta and although it is much more time consuming and involves way more ingredients than my usual meatballs, it is sooooo worth it.


1 lb ground meat, I like a mixture of pork and beef
2 TB ginger, minced
a shitload garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions (1-2 cups), chopped
1/4 cup green or red hot peppers of your choice, chopped

2 TB dried chiles (i.e. chili flakes or crumbled whole chiles such as pasilla or guajillo or ancho)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp fennel
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala

1 egg
1 cup panko

Saute garlic, ginger, green onions until softened in a large heavy pan. In a separate small pan, toast the spices from dried pepper to fennel and then grind them in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and mix into garlic ginger stuffs. Add turmeric and garam masala, and remove from heat.

Mix ground meats with egg, veggie mixture and panko. Form into golf ball sized balls. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Serve with rice for a nice meal, or make into kebabs and serve as apps. Meatballs are the best!