Radhica Muthappa (in picture) is a Chef by profession, having worked at The Park in Chennai for many years, specialising in European and Mediterranean cuisine. She has a M.Sc. in nutrition and is an avid nature lover.

Along with her husband, Uttam Muthappa, Radhica runs a couple of cloud kitchens from her home in Bangalore. One is Curly Sue Pork, started in 2018, specialising in slow-cooked exclusively pork-based dishes from all over the world. The other, more recent one is BMD Gourmet – Burger Melts & Dogs, serving the juiciest burgers and hotdogs all over Bangalore, with the menu including all-meats, vegetarian, vegan and mock meat options too.

She also runs a small vegan brand called Rosemary et al, that curates potted culinary and medicinal herbs, grown with no chemicals grown both in Coorg and Bangalore. This brand also makes preserves from fruit like huskcherry, mulberry, rhubarb, and strawberry, grown primarily in Coorg and the Nilgiris.

She shares: Coorg Meatball (Kaima Undey) Curry 

Says Radhica –“This curry is my most favourite non vegetarian curry in the world. We used to call it kofta curry, (because my mother grew up in Delhi) and we would have it every time we returned from hostel in Ooty. I particularly loved it because it was so hassle free without having to tussle with any bones!

It was only after I started working at The Park hotel that I learned that there existed a vegetarian kofta curry! This Kaima undey curry beats any other curry hollow!

I hope your enjoy this as much as I still do.”

Serves 4-6, Prep-10mts, Cooking 45mts

Ingredients:

Mutton leg mince-500g  (10% fat)

Green chilly-2 chopped

Onion-1/2 chopped

 To grind to a fine paste

Onion -2

Garlic -10

Ginger -1 “ chopped

Poppy seeds -1tsp

Jeera -1tsp

Green chilly -1

Fresh coconut -200g

Coriander -1 bunch

 Oil -3tbsp

Curly Sue’s spice mix* -1tbsp or any good brand of garam masala

Method:

  1      Marinate the mince with salt, turmeric, onion and green chilly.

2. Grind the wet masala ingredients and cook out in the oil.

3. Make small lime sized balls and pan fry them separately. This step helps to retain shape and structure of the ball, so that it does not melt into the curry.

4. In 15 minutes, when the gravy is ready and reasonably thick, add the meatballs into the masala and slow cook for 10 minutes.Do not over mix and break up the balls.

5. Check and add salt to season.

Variation

As an option, you could also add fresh coconut paste with chillies at the end of step 4. That will give you a curry with sweeter tones, but reheating should be done on simmer mode else the chance of the curry splitting is greater.

Poppy seed and coriander give the curry a velvety thickness, characteristic of Coorg curries.

 Serving suggestion:

To be eaten with hot white rice, Akki otti, idli, dosa, puttu or chapathi.