Two-in-one egg delight

Pushpesh Pant

There is an Urdu couplet that laments: “Hazaron saal nargis apni benoori pe roti hai, badi mushkil se hota hai chaman mein deedavar paida!” This may be loosely, but more or less literally translated as: “The poor flower iris/daffodil wails its lack of beauty. Ages pass before one with an appreciative eye is born!” Well, the plight of nargisi kofta is not very different. We have never been able to understand why the lovers of meaty delights choose Mughlai, Kashmiri, and even lauki ke kofte over it. It’s a truly beautiful dish with taste to match. It is a two-in-one delight — flavourful mince encasing a perfectly hard-boiled egg.

There are many who believe that it were the Brits who brought Scotch eggs with them that spawned not the chicken but nargisi kofta. The dish has been given a new lease of life by some innovative chefs. Chef Nishant Choubey has kindly shared his droolworthy recipe for our dear readers.

Indo-European Nargisi kofta

Method

• Boil minced lamb in 1-1/2 cups of water after adding all the powdered spices and salt. Uncover, and let the moisture evaporate by simmering over low flame. Allow it to cool and grind to a smooth paste in a blender.
• Shell the eggs and cover them carefully with the ground mince evenly.
• Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the nargisi kofta till rich brown. Remove with slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain excess fat.
• Combine all ingredients of pate in a mixer bowl and grind in small bursts to a smooth paste.
• Combine all ingredients for salsa and pound coarsely.
• Plate nargisi kofta after halving each meat ball with a sharp knife and placing on a bed of pate with the salsa arranged on side.
• Serve with pita or lavash bread, or even good old plain naan or roomali roti. You may garnish this exotic Indo-Italian nargisi kofta with a piece of spicy papad!

Ingredients

• Mince lamb 400 g
• Eggs (hard boiled) 6
• Cumin powder 2 tsp
• Coriander powder 2 tsp
• Ajwain powder 1 tsp
• Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
• Star anise powder 1/2 tsp
• Clove powder 1/2 tsp
• Black peppercorn powder to taste
• Salt to taste
• Oil to deep fry
• For pate
• Black olives 1 cup
• Jalapeños 1/4 cup
• Cheese (grated) 1/2 cup
• Pistachio 1/4 cup
• Lemon juice 2 tsp
• Extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp
• Fresh bread (crumbled) 1 cup
• For salsa
• Pitted olives 6
• Raw mango (finely chopped) 2 tbsp
• Tomato ketchup 1 tbsp
• Coriander leaves (chopped) 1 tbsp
• Sugar 1 tsp
• Extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp
• Lemon juice 1 tsp