Mutton kola urundai is a popular snack recipe prepared with cooked, minced mutton, spices, shallots and ginger garlic. The spiced mutton meatballs or koftas are then deep-fried.
This is the same recipe I follow to make the vegetarian counterpart, Vazhakkai kola urundai that is made with green bananas. In my kola urundai recipe, I like the green chilli spice over red chillies. In some Chettinad kola urundai recipes you can see red chillies. Green chillies give the necessary moisture and raw heat.
What is a kola urundai?
Kola urundai is the SouthIndian style mutton keema ball where we first cook the mutton and mix with special masalas. Next, we make balls from the mixture and deep fry them.
The literal meaning is kofta for kola and ball for urundai. Spicy mutton kofta or Mutton keema balls, you can name as you wish.
Mutton Kola urundai
Ingredients used: (please check recipe card for exact measurements)
Mutton: I use boneless mutton which I cook and shred before making as balls. The other way is to get minced mutton (mutton keema), cook in a pan with spices, make balls and deep fry. Mincing cooked boneless mutton is the best method for me. But if you get fine chopped/minced mutton, you can cook it the same way as mentioned in the recipe and proceed with the rest of the steps. In addition to that, I prefer to shred/pulse ground mutton rather than smooth paste. You can grind smoothly but while making balls there will be a lot of stickiness which prevents perfect ball shape.
Kola urundai masala: The basic kola masala is a mix of grated coconut, chillies, shallots, ginger and garlic with spices like fennel, cinnamon and cloves. To make the traditional Chettinad mutton kola urundai, red chillies, peppercorns, cumin, cinnamon, star anise and cloves are used in this masala.
But I prefer to make it simple with dominating mutton flavors. Hence I use shallots, ginger garlic, coconut, curry leaves and fennel seeds.
Oil: Any cooking oil suitable for deep frying can be used. Peanut(groundnut) oil is the best choice. The temperature of the oil should be medium-high. This means the meatballs should get fried slowly but evenly. High heat will burn the kola urundai outside but inside will be raw. And the balls will disintegrate if you put in smoking hot oil. Always check with a small pinch of the dough(should come up and fried slowly). Wait for the oil to become hot and fry the balls in batches in medium heat.
Popular mutton recipes:
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Mutton kola urundai – Method with stepwise pictures
Preparation:
- Clean boneless mutton pieces with water. Choose young fresh mutton over frozen for best results.
- Peel garlic, ginger and shallots, keep ready for the kola masala. If you don’t have shallots, you can use 1/4 cup chopped onion. Grate coconut and powder some 1/2cup of fried gram powder(roasted gram/pottukadalai). We may need 1/4cup plus or minus 1tbsp fried gram powder. But be careful when adding this, because excess fried gram makes the kolas brittle and breaking in the hot oil.
- Measure the ingredients to make kola masala and keep them aside.
Recipe:
How to cook & mince mutton for kola:
- Take 400g of boneless mutton pieces in a wide pan with 1/2tsp of turmeric powder and 1/2tsp of salt.
- Add just 1/2 cup of water and cook at medium-high heat for 10mins. Alternately you can pressure cook the mutton in a small-sized cooker with 1/2 cup water for just 1 whistle. Overcooking makes the meat rough and anyways we are going to deep fry the kolas again.
- After ten minutes, take the cooked mutton pieces in a blender without water and pulse run few times. The pulse run makes excellent shredded mutton and I like it this way for my meatballs(kolas) rather than minced paste.
Mutton kola urundai masala:
- In a blender take the following. 1tbsp fennel seeds, 8 garlic cloves, ginger piece, 5 green chillies, some curry leaves, shallots and 1/4 cup grated coconut.
- Grind these items into a coarse masala paste. You do not need water in this masala as well, because the moisture from coconut and onions takes care of that part.
How to make spicy mutton kola balls:
- Take the shredded or minced mutton in a mixing bowl. Add the ground coconut kola masala. Next, add the fried gram powder. Use only the required amount of fried gram powder to make the kolas holdable. Beginners please add one tbsp at a time and keep mixing until you get the dough consistency. Too much-fried gram powder makes the kola break while frying.
- Add 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder and a tsp of salt. Remember we added green chillies in the masala and salt while cooking mutton. Adjust as per your taste. Also, add a good amount of fresh coriander leaves.
- Next mix everything properly with your hand. You can check salt and spice as per your taste and add accordingly. Combine well and make small size balls like these and keep aside.
- Heat oil to deep fry the meatballs. When the oil is ready, drop the balls slowly in medium-hot oil. Overheated oil makes the kolas burnt and broken. Do not disturb for a minute. After a minute stir once to fry the balls evenly.
- Fry in batches at medium heat for around 4 mins until brown. When the mutton kola urundai is crisp and gets a deep brown crust, remove it from the oil. Wait for the oil to get heated again and do the same for the rest of the batches.
- Serve mutton keema balls (kola urundai) hot while it is still crisp.
Tips:
1) Do not replace fried gram powder with besan flour. Besan does not give the necessary crispness.
2) Reduce the number of green chillies and increase red chilli powder if you prefer red chilli spice over green chillies.
3) Use a small piece of cinnamon bark and 3 cloves along with fennel seeds while grinding kola masala if you like the Chettinad touch. I didn’t use cinnamon and cloves as we like it this way.
Mutton kola urundai | Spicy mutton keema balls | SouthIndian Mutton kofta
Equipment
- Deep fry pan
- Mixing bowl
- Blender
Ingredients
Cook & shred:
- 400 g Mutton Boneless
- ½ tsp Turmeric powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup Water
Kola masala to grind:
- 1 tbsp Fennel
- 8 Garlic
- 2 inch Ginger
- 6 Shallots or ¼ cup onion
- 4 to 6 Green chilies
- Curry leaves
- ¼ cup coconut
To make kolas:
- Mutton cooked & pulsed
- ¼ cup Fried gram powder
- +1tbsp as needed
- ½ cup Coriander leaves
- Ground kola masala
- 1 tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Chili powder
- Oil to deep fry
Instructions
Preparation:
- Clean boneless mutton pieces with water. Choose young fresh mutton over frozen for best results.
- Peel garlic, ginger and shallots, keep ready for the kola masala. If you don't have shallots, you can use 1/4 cup chopped onion. Grate coconut and powder some 1/2cup of fried gram powder(roasted gram/pottukadalai). We may need 1/4cup plus or minus 1tbsp fried gram powder. But be careful when adding this, because excess fried gram makes the kolas brittle and breaking in the hot oil.
- Measure the ingredients to make kola masala and keep them aside.
Recipe:
How to cook & mince mutton for kola:
- Take 400g of boneless mutton pieces in a wide pan with 1/2tsp of turmeric powder and 1/2tsp of salt.
- Add just 1/2 cup of water and cook at medium-high heat for 10mins. Alternately you can pressure cook the mutton in a small-sized cooker with 1/2 cup water for just 1 whistle. Overcooking makes the meat rough and anyways we are going to deep fry the kolas again.
- After ten minutes, take the cooked mutton pieces in a blender without water and pulse run few times. The pulse run gives excellent shredded mutton and I like it this way for my meatballs(kolas) rather than minced paste.
Mutton kola urundai masala:
- In a blender take the following. 1tbsp fennel seeds, 8 garlic cloves, ginger piece, 5 green chillies, some curry leaves, and 1/4 cup grated coconut. Grind these items into a coarse masala paste. You do not need water in this masala as well, because the moisture from coconut and onions takes care of that part.
How to make spicy mutton kola balls:
- Take the shredded or minced mutton in a mixing bowl. Add the ground coconut kola masala.
- Next, add the fried gram powder. Use only the required amount of fried gram powder to make the kolas holdable. Beginners please add one tbsp at a time and keep mixing until you get the dough consistency. Excess fried gram powder makes the kola break while frying.
- Add 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder and a tsp of salt. Remember we added green chillies in the masala and salt while cooking mutton. Adjust as per your taste. Also, add a good amount of fresh coriander leaves.
- Next mix everything properly with your hand. You can check salt and spice as per your taste and add accordingly. Combine well and make small size balls like these and keep aside.
- Heat oil to deep fry the meatballs. When the oil is ready, drop the balls slowly in medium-hot oil. Overheated oil makes the kolas burnt and broken. Do not disturb for a minute. After a minute stir once to fry the balls evenly.
- Fry in batches at medium heat for around 4 mins until brown. When the mutton kola urundai is crisp and gets a deep brown crust, remove it from the oil. Wait for the oil to get heated again and do the same for the rest of the batches.
- Serve mutton keema balls (kola urundai) hot.
Video
Notes
1) Do not replace fried gram powder with besan flour. Besan does not give the necessary crispness.
2) Reduce the number of green chillies and increase red chilli powder if you prefer red chilli spice over green chillies.
3) Use a small piece of cinnamon bark and 3 cloves along with fennel seeds while grinding kola masala if you like the Chettinad touch. I didn't use cinnamon and cloves as we like it this way.
