Keema Matar : Minced Mutton Gravy with Peas

Guess what is the most popular cuisine in all over India? It’s Mughlai. I think I am not the only one who searches for Mughlai items whenever menu card comes in hands in a restaurant. Not only in restaurants I also keep my kitchen always open to try out new Mughlai items. And I need not mention that different kind of meat based mughlai recipes rank top in my list. I try to keep looking for them in the market. But I always regret that I never get any good quality fresh meat. Suddenly few days back I found some fresh goat meat in the market and what more I could have asked for? But wait as they say, “denewala deta hai jab deta chappar phaad ke”. The mutton vendor also agreed to make a good amount of keema out of the fresh goat meat. Yuppieee.

Keema is nothing but minced meat. In india mostly we refer minced mutton as keema. But any other meat including any poultry item can also be used to make keema. Happy me, came back home with lovely keema. Initially I planned to make some snacks out of it to enlighten my evening tea. But it was already dark outside when I proceed to my kitchen. So I changed my mind and finally made an exotic Mughlai cuisine: keema matar/Keema mutter(Minced mutton gravy with peas).

Keema matar is a very popular dish in north India. It is nothing but cooked minced mutton. Then spice it up along with garlic, onion, tomato, chilli and finally some peas too. Sometimes chopped potatoes are also added. Though my family drool over simple potato I din’t use any in this keema matar as I wanted to relish an authentic Nawabi khana.

So, here we go for the recipe of Keema Matar.

Mutton keema: 500 gms
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp

Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

Cumin powder: 1 tsp

Coriander powder: 1 tsp

Garlic paste: 1 tsp

Ginger paste: 1 tsp

Fresh green chilli paste: 1 tsp or 1 finely chopped green chilli

Salt

Clean the keema and get rid of all excess fat, if possible.

Mix all the dry spices and salt with the keema.

Add rest of the ingredients mentioned under Ingredients for Marinade and mix well.

Keep the marinated keema in the fridge overnight. (See Tips)

Garlic: 3-4 cloves, finely chopped

Cinnamon stick: 1”

Bay leaves: 2, medium or 1, large

Green cardamom: 5-6

Cloves: 1 tsp

Sugar: 1 tsp

Other Ingredients:

Ghee (See Tips)

Take a deep bottomed non-stick wok. Heat ghee in it.

Add all the ingredients ‘For tempering’ in hot ghee and sauté until fragrant.

Add chopped garlic and keep frying until garlics are slightly brown in color.

Add chopped green chillies, continue frying.

Add onion, mix well and keep frying until onions are translucent.

Add tomatoes and continue cooking until tomatoes are tender.

Once tomato is done, add muttom keema. Mix well with masala.

Add ginger paste and mix well with the rest. Add salt. Continue cooking with cover until most of the moisture is evaporated.

Add peas and water. And bring it boil. You can also add few green chillies at this point. (All right, fine. I admit, I forgot to add all of the chillies at the beginning.)

Cover with a lid and continue cooking until meat is tender and done.

When meat is done sprinkle garam masala and cook on high flame until oil floats on the top and water evaporates.

Your Keema Matar is done.
Serve it hot with Paratha or even simple Roti or Fulka. Even you can serve it with pav(it is very popular in Maharashtra). It will be delicious irrespective of how you serve it. And don’t forget to plate it up with some fresh salad.

I used some Bengali Triangle Paratha to complete my platter with a Bong touch 😉

Tips:

1. This dish is supposed to be cooked in pure desi ghee. But of-course due to health reason you can always use half white oil with half ghee. Or even you can skip the ghee during cooking and reserve 1 tsp as your final touch in the serving bowls. 

2. If you are running out of time, try to rest the marinated keema at least for 5-6 hrs.