Saturday, 20 January 2024

The Thrift Guide - With taste!

It's that time again – New Year and after all the festivities it's back to the economical nay thrifty – here's a few ideas using that boring ingredient – mince!

This recipe hits the spot. Koftas are small Indian meatballs and as you'd expect from me they can be made ahead and frozen – in fact they improve with freezing. Versatility is the key!


Koftas - makes 25/30 ish


500g of minced lamb

or Quorn mince


*salt and black pepper

*2 cloves of garlic, crushed or 2 tsps of paste

*1 tsp of ground cumin

*1 tsp of ground coriander

*pinch of garam masala

*pinch of chilli powder


1 heaped tbsp of tomato paste

1 egg


sprinkle of plain flour

kitchen gloves or damp hands


Rapeseed oil for shallow frying


a foil tray 23cms x 23cms


Place the mince in a large mixing bowl then add the ingredients marked * and mix well. Add the tomato paste and the egg and combine. If you find the mixture too wet, then sprinkle a little plain flour into the mixture and fold in gently.

Using either gloves or damp hands your mixture should aim to be the size of a walnut (or 1 heaped teaspoon). Roll the mixture between your hands and when you've 8 or so heat the oil in a large frying pan. Seal the koftas on a low heat and carefully shake the pan to turn them – use tongs if you are accident prone!

At this stage you can continue to cook the koftas in the pan or you can transfer to an oven-proof dish and pop into a pre-heated oven 160fan/180c/Gas 4 for 15 minutes.

Alternatively let the koftas cool once sealed, transfer to freezer bags and freeze until required. Defrost and then place in a foil tray and warm in a pre-heated oven as above for 15 minutes.


Easy peasy, economical and really tasty the photo guide

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