Minced Beef Bola Curry

not my mum's curry, image from here

This is perhaps my favourite mince meat dish, and my favourite curry dish, I make my mum cook it for me every time I come home and it never fails to impress. Which is why I have left it till last. This is my mum's recipe and as with most Sri Lankan dishes measuring is not really something they do. Its more "a bit of this" and "a splash of that" so all quantites are approximates, use less or more according to your tastes.

Meat Balls
500g lean beef mince
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbs sweet spiced vinegar
1 tbs Sri Lankan roast curry powder (or you favourite curry powder)
1tsp ground turmeric
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground corriander
1/2 brown onion finely chopped
salt to taste

Gravy
1 cup milk
salt and vinegar to taste
1 tbs Sri Lankan roast curry powder (or you favourite curry powder)
1tsp ground turmeric
1tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp sugar
2-3 stalks curry leaves picked from branch
2 cinnamon sticks

Mix all the ingredients for the meat balls. Roll mince mixture firmly to form bite size balls. Heat some oil in a fry pan and brown meatballs on all sides in batches. Drain meatballs on paper towel.
For the gravy combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and cook on low heat until the gravy starts to bubble. Add the meat balls and simmer until gravy thickens and meat balls are cooked through (about 25min). Serve on steamed rice. This also goes well with pumpkin curr.

Sri Lankan Pumpkin Curry

1940's wisdom from my grandmother

This really is becoming more of a food blog and less of a chiropractic one isn't it? Oh well!
For Christmas last year my mum gave me my grandmothers cookbook. Printed in 1942, the Daily News Cookery Book was every housewives best friend. My favourite part of it are the newspaper clippings and recipe sheets from the housewives association my grandmother belonged to, each with handy tips on how to keep a spotless house, entertain guests and still keep your husband happy. Things that are still important to be a good wife, along with holding down a high power job, dressing to kill and leaping tall buildings in a single bound.
The recipes in this book make me feel at home. Traditionally each Sri Lankan woman cooks differently and no two family recipes are remotely the same. This curry is my favourite, although here in Ireland pumpkin isn't a popular vegetable, they only grow it for pig food and for halloween. Still, I made this for husband and Australian friend the first and they loved it.