Undakari Kozhambu (Meat balls in Cashew nut gravy)

Ingredients:

For Meat balls:
Minced Meat: 500g (I used Beef)
2 big onions
5 green chilies
5 garlic pods
Ginger (½ the quantity of garlic)
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Salt (as needed) (3/4 tsp for me)
1 tsp Fennel seeds powder
1 egg
3 tbsp all purpose flour
Oil

For the gravy:
2 big onions
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
2 big tomatoes
Whole spices (4 cloves, 1 Cinnamon stick, 2 Bay leaves)
¼ tsp turmeric
Salt (as needed)
1 tbsp chilly powder (less according to taste)
1 tbsp fennel powder
2 tbsp poppy seeds
3 tbsp cashew nuts
Oil
4 small Potatoes (optional) (peeled & cut into cubes)

Method:

To prepare the meat balls:
Blend roughly the onions, green chilies, ginger and garlic to a coarse paste.
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and stir fry the above.
Remove and let it cool.
Now, add turmeric, salt, fennel seeds powder, the egg and the all purpose flour to the cooled mixture and mix together everything. Form small balls and deep fry in hot oil until brown. (Here, we don?t want to wait until meat is cooked inside. We just need to fry the outer part.) Remove and transfer to a bowl lined with a paper towel.

To prepare the gravy:
Soak the poppy seeds in ½ a cup of warm water for 10 minutes.
A. Make a fine paste of onions and the tomatoes and mix the ginger-garlic
paste together.
B. Blend to a fine paste the poppy seeds along with the cashew nuts.

Heat 4 tbsp oil in a skillet, add the whole spices, when they splutter, add A (the onion/tomato/ginger/garlic paste) and fry for 3 minutes on high flame, add turmeric and salt followed by the chilly powder and fennel powder, fry a little more, and add B (the poppy/cashew nut paste); fry for few seconds and add 2 cups of water. When it boils, add the potatoes (if any), close the skillet with a lid and cook for about 10 minutes on very low flame. Add the fried meat balls and cook closed for another 10 minutes on low flame.

This gravy goes well with Plain Rice/ Ghee Rice / any Bread (Chapati/ Naan/ Parotta).
The beef meat can be substituted by Chicken/Mutton.
Enjoy your meal!