Aloo Keema

Ingredients

The meat

• 700 gminced beef
• or minced lamb or mutton
• with about 20 percent fat
• not extra lean

The potatoes

• 500 gpotatoes
• peeled and cut into 3 cm cubes
• a waxy or all-purpose variety
• not a very floury one

The base

• 4 tablespoonsoil
• or ghee
• 3large onions, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoonsginger and garlic paste
• or 6 cloves garlic and a thumb of ginger
• 3ripe tomatoes, chopped
• or 1 tin chopped tomatoes

The spices

• 1 tablespoonground coriander
• 1 teaspoonground cumin
• 1 teaspoonground turmeric
• 1 teaspoonchilli powder
• or to taste
• half a teaspoon garam masala
• added at the end
• 2green chillies, slit
• 1 teaspoonsalt, or to taste

To finish

• a large handful of coriander leaf
• chopped
• juice of half a lemon
• a thumb of ginger, cut into fine strips

To serve

• roti or naan
• or plain rice
• raita, yoghurt with cucumber
• sliced onion and lemon
• a green chilli, whole

Directions

1. Mince is cheaper than whole cuts of meat. Fifty minutes is enough, where a lamb curry needs hours. Use a waxy or all-purpose potato rather than a very floury one. Cut them into generous cubes of about three centimetres. Smaller pieces break down before the meat is ready.
2. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot. Add the finely chopped onions with a pinch of salt. Cook them over a medium heat, stirring regularly. Give them a full fifteen to twenty minutes. Take them off just before you think they are ready. They keep browning in the residual heat. Fry it for two minutes until the raw smell goes. Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric and chilli powder.
3. Hold back the garam masala, which goes in at the end. Fry the spices in the oil for about a minute. Add a splash of water if they threaten to catch. Ground spices burn very quickly in hot oil. Cook them down until they collapse completely. That takes about ten minutes over a medium heat.
4. Break it up thoroughly with a spoon as it goes in. Mince clumps together if you do not. So work it apart in the first two minutes. Fry it over a medium-high heat for about eight minutes. Keep frying until the meat has browned properly. Add the cubed potatoes and stir them through. Add the slit green chillies.
5. Add enough water to come about halfway up. Do not add too much, because this is not a soup. Season with salt and bring it to a simmer. Cover it partly and simmer for about twenty-five minutes. The potatoes should become tender right through. Uncover the pot and raise the heat if it is too wet. Cook off any excess liquid until it is thick.
6. Stir it carefully so the potatoes do not break up. So it is added in the last two minutes. Stir it through and cover the pot briefly. Scatter the chopped coriander leaf generously.
7. Add the fine strips of raw ginger over the top. Squeeze over the lemon juice. Taste it and correct the salt one last time. Serve raita alongside, which is yoghurt with cucumber and spice. Serve sliced raw onion with lemon squeezed over it. They fry them until golden and add them near the end.
8. Add frozen peas in the last five minutes. It keeps four days in the refrigerator. Freeze it without the potato if that matters to you.

Technique

• Wait for the oil to separate and rise before adding the mince. That separation, bhunna, is the single most reliable indicator that the onion, ginger, garlic, spice and tomato base has cooked properly. A base that has not reached that point tastes raw and thin no matter what you do afterwards.
• Cook the onions a full fifteen to twenty minutes until deep golden and jammy. This is the step people rush most, and under-cooked onions leave the sauce thin and harsh — the sweetness only develops with time. Take them off just before they look ready, since they keep browning in the residual heat, and burnt onions taste bitter through the whole pot.
• Do not use extra lean mince. Around twenty percent fat carries the spices and keeps the meat moist; very lean mince cooks into dry hard grains with a thin sauce.
• Break the mince up thoroughly in the first two minutes. Clumps formed then stay clumps in the finished dish.
• Fry the mince until it has genuinely browned, not just greyed. It releases liquid, the liquid cooks away, and only then does browning start — that browning is a large part of the flavour.
• Add a splash of water if the ground spices threaten to catch. They burn in seconds in hot oil and burnt spices are bitter beyond rescue.
• Garam masala goes in during the last two minutes. It is an aromatic finishing blend, and long cooking drives its fragrance off entirely.
• Use a waxy or all-purpose potato and cut it into generous three-centimetre cubes. Floury potatoes disintegrate into the sauce, which thickens it but loses the pieces — some cooks want exactly that, and most do not.
• Keep it fairly dry. Aloo keema is not a soup: the sauce should cling to the meat rather than pool around it, so add water only halfway up and cook off any excess at the end.
• The raw ginger strips and lemon at the end are not decoration. They lift a dish that is otherwise heavy and deeply spiced, and the difference is noticeable.
• Frying the potato cubes separately until golden and adding them near the end keeps them firmer and gives a better texture. It is more work and it is genuinely worth doing.

Substitutions

• Lamb or mutton mince replaces beef and both are common; chicken mince is used in some households and cooks faster.
• Ghee replaces oil and gives a richer result.
• Tinned chopped tomatoes replace fresh out of season.
• Frozen peas added in the last five minutes make aloo matar keema, which is equally common.
• Ginger and garlic paste can be replaced by crushed fresh garlic and grated ginger.
• A vegetarian version with crumbled paneer or soya mince follows the same method, though it is a different dish.

Variations

• Aloo matar keema adds peas alongside the potato and is at least as common in Pakistani homes.
• Keema without potato, cooked drier still, is served as a filling for parathas.
• Keema matar, with peas and no potato, is the north Indian relative.
• A version finished with a beaten egg stirred through is made in some households.
• Keema karahi, cooked fast in a wok-like karahi with more tomato and ginger, is the restaurant treatment.
• Some cooks add a spoonful of yoghurt with the tomatoes, which softens the sauce.

Frequently asked questions

What is Aloo Keema?

Aloo Keema is a main from Pakistan: homestyle minced meat and potato curry eaten with roti.

How long does Aloo Keema take to make?

Aloo Keema takes 20 minutes of preparation and 50 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Aloo Keema?

Yes, within limits. Lamb or mutton mince replaces beef and both are common; chicken mince is used in some households and cooks faster. Ghee replaces oil and gives a richer result. Tinned chopped tomatoes replace fresh out of season. Frozen peas added in the last five minutes make aloo matar keema, which is equally common. Ginger and garlic paste can be replaced by crushed fresh garlic and grated ginger. A vegetarian version with crumbled paneer or soya mince follows the same method, though it is a different dish.

What is the most important thing to get right in Aloo Keema?

Mince is cheaper than whole cuts of meat. Fifty minutes is enough, where a lamb curry needs hours. Use a waxy or all-purpose potato rather than a very floury one. Cut them into generous cubes of about three centimetres. Smaller pieces break down before the meat is ready.