Beef Balls Coconut Curry Sauce

This week I am starting with  Beef Balls in Coconut and Curry Sauce. Thanks to the short break out of Lagos which has helped to activate my creative juice again.

For the past few weeks, I lost my creative juice but I guess this happens to most creative people. You just get into this state when the passion and idea to do something fresh is not there. So to help me get back on track I took a break the other weekend. I went to the south eastern part of Nigeria, Oron, to visit my dad and mum. It is always a blessing when you have your parents around and you get to enjoy their company from time to time. And I enjoyed the best Afia Efere with hot ponded yam

I sat with dad and listened to him talk about the good old days and some life’s lessons. He said ” be kind to people, and if you happen to wrong someone which should not be deliberate, then God will have mercy on you“.  In effect he said never to deliberately go out of your way to hurt people. This is something I try to live by.
The serenity of the village and fresh foods and air was to die for. But as they say in Nigeria, “man must wack“( eat) which is why I had to head back to Lagos.

 

Recipe for Beef Balls Coconut Curry Sauce

2 cups Minced Beef
1/2 Onion (chopped)
2 cloves Garlic ( crushed and chopped)
Beef seasoning to taste
1 teaspoon Dry Pepper
Pinch of Salt
1/2 cup Water
1 tablespoon Parsley( chopped)
One tablespoon Curry Powder
1 cup Coconut Cream
2 cooking spoons Vegetable Oil

Method

1, Mix the meat with beef seasoning, some of the onion,garlic, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, pinch salt, 1/4 cup water, parsley and mix ingredients well into the meat.
2, Mold the meat into balls about 10 – 12 pieces
3, Heat 1 cooking spoon oil and brown the beef on all sides. Leave the browned meats in the frying pan and add the remaining water,and remaining  pepper, cover the pot and cook for about 5 minutes. Take out the meat balls and liquid and set aside
4, In a clean frying pan heat the remaining oil, and fry the remaining onion till brown. Add the curry powder and stir fry for about 3 minutes on low heat.
5, Add the coconut cream,and the meat juice , meat balls and allow the sauce to simmer for about 5 minutes on low heat. Taste and correct seasoning
6, Add the chopped green and red Shombo pepper and cook for a minute
7, Serve sauce with rice.

Kitchen tip: 1,If you happen to be using tender minced  meat, you do not necessarily need to boil the fried meat, you can skip this step. I did this just to be sure the meat cooks through as the beef in Nigeria is quite tough.
2, I used canned coconut milk in this dish. You can get this readily in most supermarkets.