Malai Kofta Kabab

As mentioned in a previous food post, I've been trying to make dinnertime more interesting for me and the Hubby (the kids would be happy with chicken nuggets and apples, they need to try new things).  I have loads of ground beef in the freezer, but wanted to make something besides pasta sauce or tacos (not that we don't enjoy those things).  I did a quick search online and came up with this recipe from Kraft Canada.  Their online recipe site has really expanded its "ethnic" offerings.  I looked at the ingredients list.  I had everything except the cooking creme*.  Since I was going shopping anyway, I picked it up.  I also added my own twist on a few of the ingredients. Below are pictures of my journey making Malai Kofta Kabab for the first time.

I enjoy toasting my own spices.  I use a regular steel pan, I think it does the job better than a non-stick pan.  In the pan I have cumin and coriander seeds.  I have burnt my seeds in the past, so I try to keep on top of them.  When they smell awesome, is usually when they are done.  Then I put them in my marble mortar bowl and then pestle them until they're ground up.

Here are all the ingredients, with my iPad shining in the background.  I think in this first attempt, I used too many breadcrumbs.

After the ingredients are mixed together, the slightly flattened meat balls goes in the oven.  FYI, that's how we tried to sell it to the kids, they're meatballs in a new sauce.

Time to start the sauce.  Sautéed onion smells so good!

Now it looks like a sauce.  It was my first time using the cooking creme.  It didn't melt as fast as I thought it would.  It worked out just fine.  All I needed was patience.

The "meatballs" are ready to go into the sauce.  It smelled so good.  I sneaked a taste of the meat before the sauce was done.  It's really a great combination of spices.

Okay, that picture is way smaller than one serving.  It smelled so good (and it made me and Hubby so hungry) that I totally forgot about taking a picture.  I also took the picture at the dinner table, which makes the sauce and rice look yellow for some reason.  It didn't look like that.  It did get a slight yellow tinge from the spices, but it looked more creamy.  Hubby and I were really happy. The kids ate the rice.  We made them taste the "meatballs".  I think they'll get to like them eventually.  I also made a cucumber salad to go on the side.  There are no vegetables in this dish, unless you count onions and cilantro.  Looking at the pictures makes me want to eat this again. I think I'd like to make this for a dinner party some time.... with people who are less picky than my kids.

*I tried to look up this recipe on other sites without the cooking creme, but it was too complicated for a weeknight meal, so I went with easy. I might try totally from scratch next time.