Keema: Adventures in Indian Food
Because my wonderful partner and friend is from South India, I have relished enjoying many flavourful and unique dishes from that part of the world. At least once a week we make a curry of some variety. One that we make quite often is Keema. Not unique to India, I believe a version of keema is eaten by many cultures. We make it a couple different ways, depending on whether we follow mom's recipe or one from a cookbook. On this occasion I took the recipe as a structure, with a few modifications. The cookbook, "The Food of India" has a pretty straightforward Keema recipe and always turns out fantastic. I highly recommend this cookbook if you are interested in learning to prepare Indian cuisine and don't have an Indian mum.
The first step in any curry is to dice your onions, garlic, ginger, and chilis.
Then heat a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in a heavy cooking pan. I only use cast iron or le creuset because of the excellent heat distribution.
Add a pinch or two of cumin seed. Once they start to sizzle and pop you are ready to cook.
Add the diced onion etc. The recipe says to process to a paste, but I prefer not to.
Fry with 2 large Indian bay leaves (cassia leaves) until the onions start to brown. Stir constantly.
After the onions are truly starting to brown (don't cheat), add the meat (I used beef, but lamb would be good too) and cook on med high until mostly no longer pink. (meat is not very photogenic, is it?)
Add tomato and asafoetida.
Then reduce heat to a simmer and add spices: turmeric, chili, cumin, coriander.
I add a bit more Kasmiri chili and cumin for a more intense spice.
Stir and cook for a minute then add the yogurt, 3-4 pinches of salt and heaping teaspoon of pepper.
Add 1/2 cup of water, a little at a time, stirring until absorbed. Add a couple whole chilis too if you like.
Now simmer on low heat for 20 minutes or so for the flavours to build and meld. This is the time to start your rice cooker with rinsed basmati, a couple threads of saffron, and frozen peas, if desired. Add frozen peas to the meat during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
During the final cooking stage, prepare your fresh side veggies. This is my favorite part of curry dishes: the crisp, sour veggies that we eat to balance the spice and heaviness of the curry.
Slice up some fresh mini cucumbers, radish, tomato, white onion, cilantro or whatever you have. Sprinkle with lemon or lime and then add the chaat masala and "Tajin" fruit seasoning. Put some yogurt in a bowl and sprinkle with chaat as well.
Once the meat is ready, add a hefty amount of minced cilantro (coriander leaf) and your garam masala.
The spread:
Take a slice of white onion, dip it in yogurt and use it to scoop the meat and rice. Delish! Fold some keema into a piece of naan and dip it in the yougurt. Enjoy!
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