Qeema

Ingredients

Pulses

• 400 gdried chickpeas, soaked overnight

Meat

• 800 glamb or mutton, finely minced
• or 800 g lamb, boiled and shredded

Base

• 4onions, very finely chopped
• 150 mloil or ghee
• 6 clovesgarlic
• 3 tbsptomato purée

Spice

• 2 tbspbaharat or Iraqi seven spice
• 1 tbspground cumin
• 1 tspturmeric
• 1 tspcinnamon
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 2dried limes, pierced
• salt

Also

• 2 litreswater or stock

To serve

• plain white rice
• pickles
• flatbread

Directions

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight in plenty of cold water. Drain them and boil them in fresh water for about an hour and a half, until completely soft. Cook them until they crush to paste between your fingers, because they are going to break down entirely. Do not salt them until they are soft, because salt toughens the skins.
2. Chop the onions extremely finely, close to a mince. Fine chopping matters because the onions dissolve entirely into the sauce, and any large piece stays as an unwelcome lump. Heat the oil in a heavy pot and cook the onions slowly for 20 minutes until soft and deep golden.
3. Take them properly golden. Add the garlic, then all the ground spices, and fry for a minute. Add the minced lamb and cook it hard, breaking it up, until it is browned and dry.
4. Cook it until genuinely dry rather than merely grey, which takes 15 minutes and is where much of the flavour comes from. Stir in the tomato purée and fry it for 2 minutes. Add the cooked chickpeas with their liquid, the pierced dried limes and the water.
5. Pierce the dried limes two or three times with a knife, because whole and unpierced they contribute almost nothing. Now simmer it, uncovered, for 2 hours or more, stirring often. Stir it regularly and scrape the base, because it catches badly as it thickens.
6. Crush the chickpeas against the side of the pot as you stir, or use a masher. The finished qeema should be thick, deep brown-orange and almost homogeneous, with the meat and pulses no longer distinct.
7. Season with salt and taste, and expect it to want a good deal. Serve it ladled generously over plain white rice, with pickles and flatbread.

Technique

• The Karbala cauldrons hold hundreds of litres and are stirred with wooden paddles for many hours.
• Dried limes are sold as noomi basra in Iraqi shops and are essential.
• It thickens considerably overnight and is loosened with hot water.

Substitutions

• Tinned chickpeas, mashed, which cuts hours from the cooking.
• Beef in place of lamb, which is less traditional.

Variations

• Made with shredded boiled lamb rather than mince.
• With more chickpeas and less meat, which is the cauldron proportion.
• Vegetarian, with chickpeas alone.

History

Cooked in vast cauldrons in Karbala during Ashura and handed out free to pilgrims.

Frequently asked questions

What is Qeema?

Qeema is a soup & stew from Iraq: minced meat and chickpea stew ladled over plain rice. Cooked in vast cauldrons in Karbala during Ashura and handed out free to pilgrims.

How long does Qeema take to make?

Qeema takes 30 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 3 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Qeema?

Yes, within limits. Tinned chickpeas, mashed, which cuts hours from the cooking. Beef in place of lamb, which is less traditional.

What is the most important thing to get right in Qeema?

Soak the chickpeas overnight in plenty of cold water. Drain them and boil them in fresh water for about an hour and a half, until completely soft. Cook them until they crush to paste between your fingers, because they are going to break down entirely. Do not salt them until they are soft, because salt toughens the skins.