Keema curry is an Indian dish made with ground beef and sometimes addition of vegetables. It’s usually eaten with rice or flatbread such as naan or roti’s. For me this dish is like comfort food really. Especially on cold days, I love to be sitting on the couch with a plate of streamed rice and spoonfuls of keema curry. The kids love it too!!

It’s like a all in one dish with the meat and vegetables, pretty much like a beef chili but Indian style. It’s a filling and hearty dish packed with spices. You could make this keema curry with your choice of meat but I mainly go for ground beef as it’s more readily available for me. As it is a one pot recipe, it’s pretty easy to make and also keeps well in the refrigerator for up to four days, so you can make this recipe ahead of time if you want.

For the vegetables I like to use potatoes. Potatoes make a great combination with the ground beef and I always make it the same way but you could always add other vegetables of your choice. I also add fresh tomatoes, you could add tomato paste or purée, it does bring out that great flavor to the curry.

Before you start to cook it is always a good idea to get everything prepped. So chopping up the vegetables …onions finely diced, tomatoes diced or cut into wedges, potatoes cut into quarters: 1 inch or inch and a half. So potatoes cut into a fairly small size. Cilantro chopped up to garnish right at the end.

To start off, you want to brown the ground beef in a pot on a medium high flame. So here you will see the meat release water and eventually start to dry up and will no longer be pink. You can stir it around few times to get it evenly cooked. Then time to add in the oil, chopped onions, garlic ginger paste, salt, bay leaf and few whole peppercorns. Give it a good stir and let that cook for another 5 minutes on a medium flame.

Now time to add in those lovely spices. One thing to note when cooking a keema curry is you really need to add in that extra bit of spice and not be shy because otherwise you will end up with a bland and flavorless curry which really isn’t going to taste as great. With ground meat you need to make it flavorful with the addition of ingredients and spices to really bring out the real taste….

So one by one add in turmeric, chili, coriander, cumin, curry(optional) and garam Masala(mix dry roasted spices) powder. All the spices need to be mixed in well and really incorporated with the ground meat. Cook that all on a high flame for 2 mins. Then add in the potatoes and tomatoes, stir well and cook that on high flame for another 2 mins.

You then need to add 1 and a half cups of hot water (I always have my water ready and boiled in my kettle just before starting to cook) to the pot and one good stir then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Stir once or twice in between. You will start to see some of the oil floating on top, that’s when you know your curry is done. Garnish with cilantro and your ready to serve.

Keema Curry (ground beef)

Recipe by ShemaCourse: MainCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4-6

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

How to cook the perfect keema curry

Ingredients

• 1lb or 400g ground beef

• 1/4 cup of cooking oil

• 2 medium sized onions chopped

• 1 heaped teaspoon ginger paste

• 1 heaped teaspoon garlic paste

• 1 bay leaf

• 5-6 peppercorns

• 3 teaspoons of salt

• 1 level teaspoon turmeric powder

• 2 level teaspoons of chili powder (adjust to how spicy you would like it)

• 2 level teaspoons of coriander powder

• 2 level teaspoons of cumin powder

• 1 level teaspoon of curry powder

• 1 level teaspoon of garam masala powder

• 3 medium sized potatoes cut into 1 inch or 1 inch and half pieces

• 2 medium sized tomatoes cut into wedges

• 1 and a half cups of hot water or stock of your choice

Directions

• Prepare the vegetables
• In a sauce pot add in the ground beef and cook until brown on a medium high flame
• Add in the oil, chopped onions, garlic ginger paste, salt, bay leaf and peppercorns
• Give it a good stir and let that cook for 5 minutes on a medium flame
• Add in the spices, one by one, turmeric, chili, coriander, cumin, curry and garam masala powder
• Mix the spices in well with the ground meat. Cook that all on a high flame for 2 mins
• Add in the potatoes and tomatoes, stir well and cook that on high flame for another 2 mins
• Add 1 and a half cups of hot water to the pot and stir well
• Cover the pot and simmer for 15-20 minutes on a medium low flame until you start to see some of the oil floating on top, stirring once or twice in between
• Serve warm with rice or flatbread

Notes

• This curry will keep good in the refrigerator for 3-4 days