venison kofta curry

It’s venison season, don’t you know (I even spotted some in my local Sainsbury’s). I can think of no finer recipe than this rich,comforting curry. If you haven’t previously tried venison in any kind of curried form I urge you to do so. It takes to stronger spices like nobody’s business. I try to make big freezable batches to have with shop bought chapattis for something fast and tasty during the week, but my greedy git of a husband always foils any attempts at organisation with his insatiable need to finish anything remotely delicious there and then on the spot. Biscuits, nice cheese, venison curry, boxes of chocolates on which my friends have quite clearly written “this one’s for Rej. HANDS OFF JOE” you name it. In my next post I’ll be rustling up some mouthwatering gruel made from old nappies and badgers. That’ll bloody learn him.

500g minced venison

1 tsp. fennel seeds

2-3 onions, finely chopped

1 cinnamon stick

2 inch piece of ginger, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, crushed

3 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp. each of chilli powder, curry powder, cumin and coriander seeds

1/2 tsp. turmeric powder

1 (400g) tin of plum tomatoes

1 (400g) tin of coconut milk

2 tsp. salt

1-2 fresh green chillies, finely sliced

couple of handfuls of chopped coriander, chopped

frozen peas

in a bowl, mix the venison, 1/4 of the  chopped onion, 1 tsp. of the salt, the fennel seeds, half of the garlic and half of the fresh green chillies. Shape into little balls.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan add the cinnamon stick and brown the meatballs all over. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the remaining onion, ginger, garlic and green chilli to the frying pan. Stir in all the spices and salt and when the onions are nice and brown, tip in the coconut milk and tomatoes. Stir well and return the meatballs to the pan.

Simmer for around 25 minutes on a low heat, adding stock or water if things start to dry out. Throw in your peas and coriander and keep going until the peas have just defrosted.