Keema II

chia's Note:

another recipe from my many cookbooks, this one is kosher and is great served over rice

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 onion , chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon ground fenugreek
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 lbs ground veal or 2 lbs ground lamb or 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 lb ripe fresh tomato , peeled and chopped
• 10 ounces peas
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)

Directions:

1. heat oil in a skillet, add onions, garlic, and stir until softened.
2. add spices and continue stirring add meat, continue stirring.
3. when meat is browned you may drain excess grease.
4. then add tomatoes and peas.
5. reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook 10 minutes more.
6. sprinkle with lemon juice if you want, serve.

Reviews

[evelyn/athens]

This was a delicious dinner served over rice. Sort of like a ground-beef stew, with lots of flavour provided by the unusual spicing. Lacking good tomatoes, I used a 1 lb plum tomatoes (drained) and broke them up with a fork. A meal everyone should make for everyday.

[Dr. Jenny]

I made this with veal, using some of kookabura's suggestions. I used about 1.35 lb of veal and doubled all of the spices as kookabura suggested as well as added a teaspoon of salt as all other reviewers suggested. Despite these modifications, I still found it to be a little bland when I went to eat it. However, I then followed mianbao's suggestions and put hot curry powder over it and a significant amount of salt and pepper and found it to be a lot more to my liking. I was wondering if the veal might have muted the flavor and if lamb or beef would have been better? I also definitely agreed with the other reviewers that the lemon juice is a must. It gave it a nice flavor.

[Kookaburra]

Some Korean students cooked Keema for me once and I was very impressed. In order to replicate that first experience, I used half the amount of ground beef (500g), and doubled the spices stipulated in this recipe. I also added 1 teaspoon of salt to the spices. I didn't have red pepper flakes, so I used a good few shakes of cayenne instead. Instead of fresh tomatoes, I used 1 x 400g can of chopped tomatoes and 155g (5oz) of peas. This done, the result was exactly the same as the authentic Korean Keema I had tasted before, and it made 500g of mince stretch to four generous serves. Served with steamed jasmine rice, this made a wonderful, light, casual lunch and I was able to freeze the leftovers for another day. Although chia says the lemon juice sprinkled over the top is optional, to me it's an integral part of the dish and I wouldn't leave it out. This is also nice with some chopped coriander (cilantro) over the top which was a nice addition, but it's not essential. Thanks chia!