The word “keema” means “minced meat” in both Hindi and Urdu and in India it is usually prepared with lamb or goat. We choose a mixture of lamb and beef, but beef alone also makes an extremely aromatic curry. As always, when it comes to this vast country, there are countless different ways to prepare it, as diverse as the climate zones and cultures of the subcontinent. What we are describing today is a North Indian version.
Start by marinating the meat. To do this, mix it thoroughly with salt, grated ginger and garlic, chili powder, garam masala, chopped coriander leaves and yoghurt. Allow to rest in the fridge for one or more hours. Ginger and garlic can also be bought as a long-life paste in Asian supermarkets, which saves time and effort and is particularly worthwhile if you cook Indian food frequently. The best chilli powder for this dish is Indian Kashmiri chilli, which is very intense in color and taste, but not overly hot. We usually use Greek yogurt, which is less runny. The stalks of the fresh coriander are set aside for later.
The next step is to prepare a seasoning paste and the more time you take to do this, the better the whole dish will taste in the end. A wok is particularly suitable for this, but you can also use a pan or pot. We heat ghee and slowly sauté chopped onion over a medium heat, adding a little salt so that they lose their liquid.
We stir very occasionally and allow the onion to brown patiently, which takes 10 – 15 minutes. Then add a sip of water and let it evaporate completely so that the onion is completely soft. Finally, add finely chopped fresh chili (without seeds), turmeric, ground cumin, a little more chili powder and the finely chopped coriander stalks.
We stir and sauté everything for a further 3 minutes, then put our spice paste to the side.
Again, we heat the ghee and fry bay leaf, cinnamon stick and green cardamom until they start to smell fragrant.
Then we fry the marinated meat with these spices for about 10 minutes over a medium-high heat, stirring repeatedly to separate the meat. The yoghurt will become more liquid and a sauce will form on its own. Leave the bay leaf, cinnamon and cardamom until the end of cooking and only remove them before serving.
We put our spice paste back into the pot and stir everything thoroughly. Now it is time to season with salt and add water if the dish is too dry.
Everything has to blend completely, especially the flavors of the spices. We like to take our time simmering the keema, covered, over a very low heat until we want to eat it. This allows the flavor combinations to become deeper and deeper. Keema matar with peas is also very popular. You would add them now and let them cook in the curry.
We serve with rice. Raw vegetables, today onion and cucumber, seasoned with salt and pepper and soaked in lemon juice for an hour, provide freshness. Fresh coriander is not only pretty, it also goes perfectly with this curry. We also recommend adding a few squeezes of lemon over the spicy meat at the end.
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
Ingredients (for 2 people):
For the meat:
400 g minced meat (lamb and/or beef)
80 g Greek yoghurt
1 level teaspoon of salt (4 grams)
2 tsp ginger and garlic, grated
1 tsp chili powder (Kashmiri chili)
1 tsp garam masala
3 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
For the curry:
2 tbsp ghee (or neutral vegetable oil)
1 large onion
1 tsp salt
1 fresh chili
2 tsp ginger and garlic, grated
stems of fresh coriander, chopped
½ tsp turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chilli powder (Kashmiri chilli)
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
2 pods green cardamom
