Beef Keema Indian Ground Beef With Peas

Every culture has a dish made out of ground meat. Be it some meatballs or lasagna or different versions of Picadillo like Puerto Rican Picadillo or Filipino Giniling, which is Asian picadillo and Australian Savoury Mince. Ground meat recipes are quick and easy and can be full of different varied flavors. Check out our collection of favorite Ground Beef Recipes! If you’re looking for some ground meat recipes, try my fabulous lists of Ground Chicken recipes and Ground Pork recipes. I even have healthier and lighter options like Ground Turkey recipes.

What is Keema?

Keema, or kheema, literally translates to ground meat. This popular Indian spiced ground meat is flavored with all the Indian staple spices and aromatics. In India, it’s commonly made with ground goat meat or lamb, while in Pakistan people more often tend towards ground beef. I can see it would be great with chicken or pork, also. It’s usually a semi dry dish, where ground meat is engulfed with that classic Indian masala made by sauteing onion and tomatoes along with ginger garlic paste and a few spices. Very commonly, some kind of veggies get added along with the minced meat, mostly either peas, potatoes or both. The end result is a delicious mix of flavors in every single bite.

Ingredients Needed

Ground beef Onions Tomatoes Aromatics – Ginger, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno Spices – Turmeric, red chili powder (like Kashmiri red chili powder, which is mild), coriander powder, garam masala powder. Peas – I am using frozen peas, but you can use fresh peas. Oil or Ghee

Beef Keema Recipe

Like most of the Indian dishes, the starting point here is to create a masala out of onion and tomato with aromatics and spices. You can make keema in all ghee, half & half ghee and oil, or simply oil. I start by sautéing finely chopped onions over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until they get a deep golden brown color. This takes time, about 10-15 minutes, but it’s such an important step for a good-tasting Indian curry. Then, I add ginger and garlic paste, which I normally make fresh in my mortar and pestle. I sauté for a couple of minutes. Next, I add chopped tomatoes along with salt, crushed or chopped jalapeno, turmeric powder, red chili powder, and coriander powder. I mix everything well and sauté until it becomes a nice, homogenous masala mixture. This could take another 10 minutes. I add in the ground beef and mix it well with the masala, letting it cook until the beef is fully cooked. Then, I sprinkle in garam masala powder and cook for 3-4 minutes. Some people like their kheema pretty dry, so you need not add any water. If you want slightly runny or more runny, you can add half a cup to one cup of water. I add in peas during the last 10 minutes of cook time. If I’m using fresh peas, I add them a little sooner, as they take more time to cook. Once everything is fully cooked, I adjust for salt and garnish with cilantro and julienne sliced ginger.

Serving Suggestions

Try my version of keema the next time you have no clue what to cook with ground beef and are looking for new flavors. It’s easy, fairly quick and delicious. Impress your friends and family with these Indian flavors and see it polished off fast from the table! Pin or bookmark this great recipe so you always know where to find it. And please leave a comment and review when you try it, I love hearing from you! Check out our collection of favorite Curry Recipes!