An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [24]
To serve: This dish is rather like chili con carne without the chili. Serve it with rice, or chapatis, or parathas, and any vegetables you like. If serving it with a rice dish, e.g., Rice with Potatoes and Cumin Seed, serve a moong or masoor dal with it.
Kheema with fried onions
SERVES 6
This is easily my favorite kheema recipe. Nutmeg, mace, and yogurt are added to the meat for a slight variation.
1 medium-sized onion, peeled and cut into very thin rings
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick, 3 inches long
6 whole cloves
2 medium-sized onions, finely chopped
A piece of fresh ginger, 1 inch long and 1 inch wide, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 tablespoons tomato sauce (homemade or canned)
2 pounds ground chuck (or ground lamb)
¼ teaspoon ground mace
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
¼–½ teaspoon cayenne (optional)
Halve the onion rings and separate. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed 10–12-inch skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the halved onion rings and fry them for about 5 minutes until they are dark brown but not burned. Remove with a slotted spoon and spread on paper towels. They will not be needed until the meat is almost cooked.
Put the bay leaves, cinnamon, and cloves in the hot oil. When the bay leaves begin to darken and the cinnamon starts uncurling slightly, add the finely chopped onions, ginger, and garlic. Fry, stirring, for 10 to 12 minutes, until the onions darken to a medium brown with darkish edges. Lower flame a bit and add the coriander, cumin, and turmeric. Fry for about 2 minutes, stirring all the time. Add the yogurt and cook, stirring, another minute. Now put in the tomato sauce, and keep frying and stirring for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the meat. Raise the flame to medium (medium high if the meat is very watery) and fry, breaking up all the lumps with the back of a slotted spoon, for about 7 or 8 minutes. Next, put in the mace, nutmeg, salt, cayenne, and ½ cup water, and stir. Bring to a boil, cover, turn flame down to low, and let it simmer for 1 hour. Stir every 10 minutes or so. After an hour, mix in the browned onion half-rings and remove the cinnamon.
To serve: Serve with Rice with Spinach, Potatoes with Asafetida and Cumin, Green Beans with Ginger, or Yogurt with Tiny Dumplings. Or serve with plain boiled rice, moong dal, and a cauliflower dish. This kheema is also excellent served with chapatis and pooris instead of rice.
Kheema with fried onions and peas
SERVES 6
Follow the preceding recipe. Instead of cooking the chopped meat for 1 hour, cook it for 50 minutes. Add 1 cup freshly shelled (or frozen) peas to it, mix, cover, and let cook another 5 to 10 minutes or until peas are tender. Add the fried onion half-rings and serve as in the previous recipe.
Kheema used as stuffing
Ground meat, kheema, is used very often as stuffing for vegetables. If the kheema is cooked well, and the sauce used over the vegetable is flavorful, these dishes can be superb. Sometimes, when serving four people, I have bought two large eggplants, stuffed them, and brought them to the table covered with a red tomato and tamarind chutney. They have created a sensation.
The vegetables easiest to stuff are green bell peppers, long Italian peppers, tomatoes, and, of course, eggplant. (The discarded inside of the eggplant can be used for an unsmoked version of Eggplant Bharta.) These vegetables come in different sizes, so it will be up to you to decide how many you need. Pick your vegetables of a uniform size.
For the stuffing I use Kheema with Fried Onions. You can use any kheema leftovers as well. The stuffing can, if necessary, be made the day before and refrigerated. You could also make the chutney