Yay for the sunshine over the weekend! It was lovely to walk under the sun with a natural dose of Vitamin D.

As decided I made Kheema matar curry and enjoyed it to the last bite of my share. I had mine with toasted whole meal bread slices as it adds crunchiness to the curry, but some prefer it with naan (Indian bread) or steamed rice.  My husband and me like our curries hot so had chopped green chillies added to it. But if you like it mild then avoid the green chillies in the recipe. Either way this dish is yummy hot or mild.

It takes under an hour to make and uses just one pot. Don’t be put off by the list of ingredients – I bet you have half the stuff in your cupboard anyway and if you don’t then buying them will be a good investment for future Indian-food-cooking. Here comes the Kheema curry recipe that I followed:

Ingredients

Serves 3

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste

500g minced chicken

 As many or as few green chillies as you like

2 teaspoons ground cumin

175g peas (frozen are fine)

A generous handful of fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped

1 1/2 teaspoon of red chilly powder

About 1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon of gharam masala ( magic spice, mixes of Indian spices, easily available, if not pound 1/8th of the 3 inch cinnamon stick, 1 cardamom , 1 black pepper, 3 cumin seeds )

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

Cooking Method

Heat the oil in a wide pot over a medium flame. When hot, add the onions and cook for 5-7 minutes or so until they’re starting to turn brown. Don’t worry about under or over cooking them too much, this dish is quite forgiving.

Add the ginger- garlic paste and fry for one more minute.

Now add the minced meat, peas and chillies. Fry for about 5 minutes or so on a fairly high heat, breaking up any lumps as you go. Don’t stir it too much, it’s nice when it catches on the pan a little and adds a bit of texture.

When it’s nice and brown, add water for the meat to cook and more if you like a little gravy. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and leave it to simmer for 30 minutes.

Now add the gharam masala and lemon juice. Mix it all in and bring it back to a simmer. Garnish with fresh coriander and that is you done! I had also added boiled egg as I like the combination of egg and mince since childhood.

Enjoy moderate portions and Eat healthy and live healthy!

Just to let you know:

 Kheema,  a flavorful minced meat (beef or lamb) dish has said to have originated in Persia but extremely popular in the Indian sub-continent.

Other meats like chicken (like we have used in our recipe) or turkey can be used too.