Kofta Pulao

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! On a Sunday evening not long ago, I had some extra time on my hands so I decided to cook ahead for Monday and Tuesday. I had keema (mince) in the freezer and I figured a nice spicy kofta (meatball) curry was the way to go. I marinated and rolled the meatballs, made the masala, and pretty soon I had a simmering saucepan bubbling away merrily as the koftas cooked. Once they were done, I let them cool, and stuck them in the fridge to eat the next day.

As luck would have it, on Monday morning, I was asked to travel from Istanbul to Antalya for a battery of meetings for work for the rest of the week, that very afternoon! I rushed home, packed a bag, and with a heavy heart, put my koftas in the freezer to await my return. I was driving down with a couple of the client guys (I say we, I meant they, I sat in the back reading my book, and napping) and we made the 12 hour trip, to arrive at our hotel a little past 3 am. The rest of the work week was just full day meetings, punctuated by breaks for lunch and the occasional trip to the beach in the evenings (and a romantic moonlight swim in the warm waters of the Mediterranean sea with 4 Turkish blokes). Since Antalya is a very popular tourist destination, I decided to hang back for the weekend to do a little touring, and fly back to Istanbul on Sunday evening. I booked myself a tour for Saturday and planned to wing it on Sunday. Early Saturday morning, I was picked up from my hotel by the tour bus taking me to the ancient city of Perge with its magnificently preserved columns and artefacts, the 1800 year old theatre of Aspendos which even after a millennium still has perfect acoustics, and the ruins and the Temple of Apollo of Side with a little stop at the Kurşunlu waterfall along the way. The tour group was small; a couple of Americans, 3 Chinese people, a bloke from Brazil, a Kurd, an always smiling Japanese lady, and a Japanese family with a young boy who's primary focus was to find a shady spot and sit down. We made our introductions as we boarded and spent the rest of the day quite harmoniously, making chit-chat and requesting each other to take pictures. When the tour ended I was dropped off at my hotel, and a quick shower and change later, I popped out for dinner at a pizzeria across the street. After polishing off a large pizza (served by a very cute waitress), I headed back to my room and crashed.

The next day I checked out of my hotel and took a tram from Hadrian's gate to the archaeological museum to look at some of the recovered artefacts from Perge and spent the next couple of hours taking in some fantastic marble sculptures, among several other objects on display, some dating back to 5500 B.C.. For my last stop before my flight out, I went to the Sefa hamam. A 600 year old hamam in the old city, where I was peeled, soaped, and massaged until my body felt quite boneless (like it had been on the receiving end of Gilderoy Lockhart's bone repairing spells). From there it was a taxi ride to the airport, and a short, delayed, flight later, found me back home in Istanbul.

Monday was a usual run-of-the-mill day, the highlight of which was my long awaited kofta dinner, and the next day, because I had a hankering for rice, I fashioned a pulao with the leftovers, and with a few choice add-ons, this kofta pulao was born.

For my kofta pulao, you will need the following:

Left over kofta curry (meat of choice)	2 person portion (about 6 koftas)
Rice	2 cups
Onion	1 small
Tomato puree	2 tbsp
Green chillies	1-2
Ginger garlic paste	1 tsp
Peppercorns	small handful
Cardamom pod	1
Cloves	2
Bayleaf	1
Cinammmon	small piece
Jeera (cumin seeds)	1 tsp
Coriander powder	1 tsp
Red chilli powder	1 tsp
Jeera (cumin) powder	1/2 tsp
Garam masala	1/2 tsp
Biryani masala	1 tsp
Boiled eggs	2
Lemon juice	big squeeze
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Slice the onion.
2. Chop the chillies.
3. Rinse the rice with cold water 3-4 times. 
4. Hard boil the eggs. 
5. Peel the eggs.
6. Make about 5 slits around the circumference of each egg.

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a pan/kadhai on.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Count to 20. 
5. Toss in the jeera.
6. Float in the bayleaf.
7. Plonk in the cinammon.
8. Pop in the cardamom pods.
9. Drop in the cloves.
10. Bounce in the peppercorns.
11. Cook for a minute until you can smell the aroma of the cooking spices.
12. Pop in the onion.
13. Roll in the chillies.
14. Cook until the onions are translucent.
15. Put in the ginger garlic paste.
16. Cook until the onions go brown. (Like me after a day in the sun.)
17. Sprinkle in the coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder, garam masala and the biryani powder.
18. Mix.
19. Cook for a couple of minutes.
20. Squirt in the tomato puree.
21. Mix.
22. Cook until the oil separates from the mixture.
23. Add in your left over kofta curry.
24. Plop in the boiled eggs.
25. Mix.
26. Scoop in the rice.
27. Add in 4 cups of water.
28. Squeeze in the lemon juice.
29. Add salt to taste.
30. Mix.
31. Drop the heat to low.
32. Pop a lid on.
33. Let it cook for about 20 mins until the water has all gone and the rice is cooked.
34. Turn the gas off.
35. Garnish with coriander leaves.
36. Serve with raita.
37. Stuff face.
38. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish. 

Tip: For super soft koftas, as you are marinating them, add in a slice of bread that has been smooshed up in a splash of milk.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!