Nargis Kebab or Nargisi Kofta
The Nargis Kebab, the Indian origins of the ever-popular British Scotch egg, my version wraps spiced beef around a jammy yolked boiled egg.
Perfect as either a picnic or lunch box treat or part of a multi-course Indian meal as a starter, these will become a real versatile favourite.
Nargisi Kofta
I love Scotch Egg so imagine my joy when I stumbled across something called a nargisi kofta.
It was described as an Indian Scotch egg in an Indian Restaurant called the Shirley Temple in a place called Shirley. I only mention that because, well restaurant naming goals!
As a Brit, stumbling on this dish blew my mind. Like many, I was "taught" that the Scotch egg was invented by Fortnum and Mason in the early 18th Century.
The Indians are laughing into their sleeves as the Nargis Kebab predates them by centuries.
Just like the Scotch egg, this recipe features minced meat wrapped around a boiled egg. In India, this meat is often lamb for cultural reasons.
I choose beef as it has a slightly less greasy mouthfeel, which is important if you are sneaking them into a lunch box and eating them cold.
The eggs are the perfect smooth and silky foil to the richly spiced meat, in much the same way they do in my egg curry.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use any other meat?
Yes, the Nargis kebab is most often made with lamb, but I have also seen it made with chicken.
I am a stickler for changing spicing in recipes to complement the meat.
If I were using lamb, I would dial back the fenugreek and increase the amchur to add acidity to cut through the rich lamb.
I would dial back all of the spices when using chicken, but also increase the amchur.
Can they be eaten cold?
Yes, they are a killer lunchbox or picnic dish.
They can be made up to 4 days in advance, and as is so often the way with spicy food, the flavours improve with time.
However, if you plan on eating them cold, increase the spicing by 10-20%. Spices are always a little more muted in cold dishes.
Where are the breadcrumbs?
There are no breadcrumbs on nargisi kofta; they just don’t exist in the same way in Indian food, and certainly didn’t a few centuries ago.
Why are my kebabs cracking when fried?
This is likely a result of one or two things or a combination of both.
The first is as a result of too much moisture. You need to pour away almost all of the liquid from the grated onions.
The second is not smoothing over the kebab. If you leave cracks in the surface, oil will get in and pop them open.
Serving Suggestions
A Nargis kebab is often served as a starter, although I prefer them as a centrepiece of a meal.
I usually serve them with something light but also something with a little acidity and sweetness. This helps counter all that rich protein.
That for me means a mint and cucumber raita.
This dish also works really well with a kachumber salad, which is a mix of onion, cucumber and often tomato.
In restaurants, they are often served with a simple omelette.
If I'm feeling particularly greedy, I'll serve them with roast Bombay potatoes.
Equipment Used
I only name-check brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.
- Hob/stovetop.
- 20cm or 8" saucepan for boiling the eggs.
- Deep fat fryer, you could use a pan, but be sure not to fill more than a quarter with oil and be VERY careful!
- Mixing bowl.
- Cling film.
- Slotted spoon.
- A combination of weighing scale, measuring cups and spoons.
Indian Nargis Kebab Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Large Onions 250g
- 1 teaspoon Ginger Paste
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Paste
- 1 teaspoon Ground Coriander
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri Chilli Powder
- ½ teaspoon Amchoor
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 1 tablespoon Dried Fenugreek Leaves
- 300 g Minced Beef 8oz
- 35 g Dried Breadcrumbs ½ Cup
- 4 Large Eggs
Instructions
- Peel and grate the onion.
- Mix together the ground beef with all of the ingredients, with the exception of the eggs, making sure you only add a little of the water from the grated onions.
- Boil the eggs by placing them in rapidly boiling water for 7½ minutes and immediately refreshing them in cold water. Peel the eggs when cooled.
- Pre-heat your deep fat fryer to 170ºC or 340ºF.
- Divide the meat mixture into four portions.
- Flatten out a single serving on a piece of cling film to a rough circle approximately 5-7mm (¼") thick, and place an egg in the middle. Bring up the edges of the cling film to wrap the meat mixture around the egg.Wet your hands and remove the cling film, and proceed to form the meat into a smooth covering around the egg. Make sure you smooth out all cracks.
- Repeat this process for the remaining eggs.
- Fry in a deep fat fryer for 4-5 minutes or bake at 180°C or 350°F for 20-25 minutes.
We had these recently in an Indian restaurant in Weymouth. They were absolutely gorgeous. They were served as a starter with a sweetish tomato and onion sauce and a small side of rocket and other lettuce leaf cuttings.
I don’t have a deep fryer but I’m hoping to replicate them by baking in the oven.
I make a pretty standard scotch egg in the oven https://www.krumpli.co.uk/baked-scotch-egg/ so it is certainly possible and should work well enough here. They are not exactly the same as fried but they are good!
Hey
Can we use minced chicken instead of beef?
You can, however you must ensure that the chicken is cooked through to 74C or 165F which means longer cooking time and the likelihood of a less runny yolk.
I would also scale back the spices in the mix, beef has a much stronger flavour so can take stronger spicing.
I have just been thinkingof making since reading a new indian restaurant in london is doing them.
I own more than 200 cookbooks including indian but nargisi scotch eggs dont appear.
I feel a breadcrumb coating is essential. For a drinks party use quails eggs, perfect when cut in half
I ran across these in a restaurant in a suburb of Birmingham and immediately fell in love with them.
They date back to the 17th 18th Century in India so definitely pre-date the breadcrumbs of the Scotch Egg I recognise but there is no reason not too change them up 🙂 I like mine as a 'light meal' but just like regular Scotch Eggs they are really versatile.
Wow, this recipe really impresses! Looks incredible! Very interesting combination of ingredients. I really like. Very beautiful presentation. I definitely want to try your recipe, and I'm sure it is very tasty! Thank you for sharing this great and interesting recipe! YUM!
Ooooh, it's been a long minute since I've had a Scotch egg. I might try this on the weekend when I can get a bit of time free! Love that runny egg yolk.
I love this! Scotch eggs are so yummy but I've never tried making them myself. Love the idea of an Indian twist on it 🙂
Wow I've never had a scotch egg with Indian spices before, it sounds incredible!!
Intending to make these very soon. However as I am on a weight loss plan I would have to cook them in the oven.
Any idea how long the timing would be please?
As a starting point I would say 20-25 minutes at 180C or 350F and use a meat thermometer to ensure your meat is cooked to your liking 🙂
Wow, this recipe really impresses! Looks incredible! Very interesting combination of ingredients. I really like. Very beautiful presentation. I definitely want to try your recipe, and I'm sure it is very tasty! Thank you for sharing this great and interesting recipe! YUM!
Thanks Veena
Ooooh, it's been a long minute since I've had a Scotch egg. I might try this on the weekend when I can get a bit of time free! Love that runny egg yolk.
Have fun 🙂
I love this! Scotch eggs are so yummy but I've never tried making them myself. Love the idea of an Indian twist on it 🙂
Bizarrely enough the British version is the twist on the Indian version... I know I was like "shut the front door" too 😮
Wow I've never had a scotch egg with Indian spices before, it sounds incredible!!
The most amazing thing about it is that it predates the Scotch Egg that I remember from my yoof 😮
Carolyn !!! I also have that " soft yolk fetish " so spit out some more coffee !!!????
Hi Brian , you can always make nargisi kofta using beef. Indians use lamb keema because of their sensitivity to beef . If you google nargisi kofta you will come across pakistani recipes where they use beef keema . By the way your martial kofta looks scrumptious .
Cheers Farhana, didn't know that 🙂
Hey, how long in the fryer? I tried this yesterday with a shallow fry, but no runny yolk...I was close!
Sorry it took a while to respond I was away on holiday, it takes around 6-8 minutes in the fryer depending on the cut of meat and the thickness of the meat covering and how much you par boiled the egg. A harder yolk is not the end of the world it still tastes awesome but it does lack the squeal of delight a runny yolk inspires.
I had no idea scotch eggs weren't simply a wonderful British invention. Looks completely delicioius though and I'll give it a go. Always looking for new scotch egg style recipe. My current favourite is wrapped in duck confit - but so long as it's got a runny yolk you simply can't go wrong 🙂
Thanks Matt, love the idea of a scotch egg in Duck confit, sounds awesome... Nargisis kebab probably dates back to the time of the Raj and is one of the original 'fusion foods' 😉
Hi! I am on keto diet. Any substitute for breadcrumbs?
I would be guessing to be honest with you and what I am about to suggest could be a massive disaster! It could of course work perfectly and be delicious, either way let me know.
I know that a lot of keto bread uses almond flour and you could give that a punt, go for something fairly coarsely ground and add just enough to hold the meat mix together. I actually use pine nuts in my standard meatballs for flavour and texture so the idea of nuts in meatballs is not a huge stretch for me!
@Brian Jones, Nargisi kofta probably goes back to the times of the Mughals, the rulers of the subcontinent before the British.
Indeed, I allude to this in my recipe, just not in a great deal of detail 🙂
Britain co-opting the invention is nothing new 😉
These look simply amazing. Especially the perfect runny yoke.
Thank you, they took an awful long time to develop but now I have them down to 'pat' then they are pretty simple 🙂
Your Scotch eggs look way better than mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for being the first to link up to #MonthlyMasala! 🙂
Thanks for arranging it, Whitney... Spending an afternoon browsing through Indian Recipes is my idea of time well spent 😉
How have I not come across these before, I love scotch eggs and Indian food. I've added some beef to my shopping list though if I can get hold of some beef sausage I reckon that would work quite well. I always bake my scotch eggs as I've always been a bit scared of fryers so will be sacrificing the runny yolk but am sure they'll still be delicious!
I know, the first time I saw them my head nearly exploded... It was in an Indian Restaurant in Birmingham (unequivocally the best place in the world to get a curry 😉 ) after that I started seeing them in a few more but not very often, all the ones I ate were made with Lamb but getting hold of lamb here is nigh on impossible but the beef works really well. I have a bit of a runny yolk fetish, it just makes me smile, mother natures perfect little sauce, but I have made these for picnics and gone with a harder yolk and they still work wonderfully!
"Runny yolk fetish" haha just spat my coffee out laughing
You have read my disclaimer that I am in no way shape or form responsible for damages when reading my comments haven't you? 😉
I have printed this off to try tonight! Hungry Hubby will be soooo thrilled if I can pull them off! What a blinder of a recipe Brian. Do you know any more about where they come from in India etc? Just curious. And is it 1 tsp or 1 tbsp cumin seeds I need?
Well spotted Jo, I have update it is a Tablespoon... You will have to let me know how you get on and send some pictures... I have tried to find out where they come from but to no avail, so Spice Island in Birmingham (I think that is what is was called) gets to claim them as it was the first place I saw them 😉
I've made Scotch eggs exactly once but baked them and even though they tasted great I still longed for the taste and texture of a 'real' scotch egg one day. This Indian version, though, sounds pretty amazing so I think I should give them a try. Kibbeh, a similar deep fried ground beef 'egg' stuffed with seasoned ground beef is amazing shallow fried, so I might try shallow frying in case I chicken out on the deep frying. 🙂
http://a-boleyn.livejournal.com/201532.html
You could shallow fry scotch eggs and I would probably do it that way if I wanted to have a solid yolk, but to keep the runny yolk I think the cooking time would be too long as you would need to keep the heat moderate to ensure the meat is cooked through.
I would definitely want a runny yolk so I guess deep frying is what I need to do.
I would think so although I have not tried, maybe if you tried quails eggs with a much thinner meat covering you could get away shallow frying. But it would be trial and error, it took me a while to get the right temperature of oil and ratio of meat to egg to get this recipe the way I like it... Not that I am complaining even the ones that did not work out great to look at tasted fabulous 🙂
@Brian Jones,
Would please add me to your regular recipe email list
Thank you
Don
[email protected]
I've done that for you Don 🙂 I email out new recipes or updates every Sunday evening.
Thanks
Brian