Keema (or kaima) is a meat dish prepared with minced meat, peas and/or potatoes. Typically land or goat is used but I mostly make it with ground chicken. The ground chicken we get in grocery stores is more like spaghetti and less like minced meat. Back in India we never bought meat from a freezer. Every Sunday morning, forget about meatless Mondays we only had meat Sundays, my dad would go to the local butcher who slaughters the animals that very morning and the meat is all sold by mid-morning. They have this mincing block where they mince meat…and they go so fast on that with knives so sharp it really is a miracle that the butcher had on him all of his ten fingers. Because the meat was minced by hand it had a different look and texture to it. The first time I came across ground meat in grocery shops here I was not just intrigued by it but also kind of put off. May be, that is why I never liked the taste of ground meat here…although I cook it pretty often. And then I found ground chicken at Griggstown Farm – it looks exactly like the minced meat from my childhood. It tastes good too but that could be in my mind and not on my tastebuds.
Ingredients:
- Ground chicken* – 2 pounds
- 2-3 tbsp oil
- 1 big onion
- 2-3 green chillies slit lengthwise
- 2 medium tomatoes diced
- 1 medium potato peeled and diced
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tbsp red chilli powder
- Salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp coriander powder
- 1/4 tsp garam masala
- Few coriander leaves for garnish
Method:
- Add tomatoes, turmeric powder, salt, and chilli powder to the ground meat and mix it well (picture below)
- Heat oil and add onions and green chillies and saute until the onions are slightly brown
- Add ginger garlic paste and saute for another few seconds
- Add potatoes and peas and stir for a minute. Cover the pot and reduce the flame. Let the potatoes cook for a few minutes
- Add ground meat and keep stirring so it will brown evenly. Once it browns, cover the pot and let it cook. Keep checking the meat so it won’t stick to the pan. If the meat becomes dry add a few tbsp of water
- After the meat cooks add coriander powder and garam masala and let it simmer for a while
- Garnish with coriander and serve with rice or rotis **
*This recipe can be used for ground goat or lamb as well. But I usually cook ground goat in a pressure cook since it takes a long while to cook.
**I also make make sandwiches with keema filling in a sandwich maker.
etceque 