• 1 kg. basmati rice;
• 300 g. kheema or soya chunks for koftas;
• 250 g. onion paste;
• 50 g. ginger-garlic paste;
• 2 onions, cut into rings;
• 2 tsp. garam masala;
• 1 egg;
• gram flour as required;
• a few drops of kewra essence;
• chilli powder and salt to taste;
• 200g. ghee.

1. Mix together kheema, gram flour, half of the ginger-garlic paste, onion paste, egg and salt. Make small balls and fry in hot ghee. Heat ghee and fry onion rings adding rest of the ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder and salt. Add koftas to this masala and keep aside.
2. In a separate cooker, cook rice with cardamoms and a little salt. Take out half of the cooked rice and to the remaining half add the kofta curry. Add colour if desired and sprinkling of kewra water. Cover with the remaining rice. Add fried onion rings and little ghee. Cover with a heavy lid and cook sealed on a low heat for 2/3 minutes. Serve hot with mint chutney.

(contributed by R. Martin, Calcutta)