The authentic and unique Dum Ka Keema recipe from the royal kitchen of Nawabs of Hyderabad. Make this delicious keema in just 20 minutes of cook time. Serve it loads of zesty ginger and cooling mint.
Dum ka Keema is spiced and smoked ground meat curry. It is made by marinating ground meat (keema) with an Indian spice blend. Then ground meat is cooked with fried onions and yogurt. Gram flour is used to thicken the gravy. It is usually served with paratha and mint chutney.
Keema means ground meat, throughout the post ground meat and keema will be used interchangeably. Dum means 'to smoke' so make sure your keema has a deep smoky flavor.
We love eating keema at home, no wonder I'm having so many mince recipes on the blog. The best once are bhuna keema, chapli kebab, keema cutlets, Mongolian meatballs and keema naan.
Why this recipe is so easy?
There are three basics of this recipe if you hooked them right, you'll end up with the most delicious keema very easily.
- Finely gournded: The finely grounded texture gives the Keema a curry like authentic look and taste.
- Marination: This step makes sure keema is juicy and cooked to perfection. The papaya paste or any meat tenderizer also necessary for that soft juicy texture.
- Smoking: This is most cruicial. Getting properly smoked mince can be tricky. I'd recommend re-smoking keema if needed, until you can taste and smell the smoke in the keema.
Ingredients
The ingredients are visible in the image below which are ground meat, yogurt, ginger, garlic, chili, gram flour, onion, oil, butter or ghee, papaya paste, and Indian spices. Read below for substitute for ingredients or skip to the how-to-make section.
- Ground Meat: You may use beef, mutton or lamb mince to make this recipe. We want finely grounded meat so ask your butcher to process it through the machine twice.
- Gram Flour: Gram flour is easily available in Indian stores, you can substitutes it with chickpea flour. You may skip it.
- Black cumin: Black cumin has rich aroma so it is recomemded. But you can easily substitute it with white cumin.
- Raw Papaya paste: The raw hard green papaya has capability to emulsify meat protien so it help tenderize the meat. You can use any meat tenderiser.
- Onion: I used fresh onion in this recipe. You can also use crushed fried onion. You'll need about â…“ cup crushed fried onions.
- Ghee and butter taste amazing in this keema. I used a mix of ghee and oil.
How to cook?
Making Dum ka Keema is very easy, just sear (bhunnofy) it very well until browned. You can also marinate the meat a night ahead and store it in the fridge. Also, smoke keema in a wide pan so it smoked evenly.
- Take all ingredients of marination in a bowl.
- Mix all and marinte overnight (8 to 36 hours) in the fridge or 2 hours on the counter in a cool dry place. Cover the ground meat with a thin cloth or mesh to allow air circulation. (Do not skip the marination.)
- Heat oil in a pan fry chopped until until golden brown. (Protip:You can also use crushed and fried onions to save time.)
- Add marinated ground meat. Cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes on medium heat. As the keema begins to cook, it will release the juices and it will get easy to stir. Give it a good stir and break the lumps. Cover and coontinue to cook on low heat until water dries. Slow-cooking can really enhance the flavors.
- Most of the water has dried. Now we need to sear (bhunna) the dum ka keema for about 10 minutes until keema turns brown, a little darker in color.
- Dry roast gram flour in a pan for 1 minute with constant stirring until fragrant. Add gram flour to the keema and mix well. Remove keema from the heat. If you intend to keep keema dry, you can skip adding gram flour as it used to thicken the gravy consistency. But the drawback is it mellows down the over all flavor.
- This is most crucial step. Heat at least 2 inch peice of thick charcoal. It has to be red hot, I keep it for heating when i start searing the keema. Keema should be in a thin layer in a wide pot. Then place the coal on the keema as shown in above picture. Drizzle oil and cover the keema. Place a tight lid with no holes. The smoke must not escape. Smoke for 10 minutes for deep smoky flavor.
- Now, this part is a personal choice. If you like keema to be juicy add ½ water and let keema simmer on low for 5 minutes until you see the oil seperating on the sides of the pan. You may keep it dry and skip this step.
- Dish out the keema and add small dallop of butter in the middle. Garnish it with loads of juliene ginger, fresh mint and sliced onion salad.
Recipe FAQ
Serve Dum ka keema with paratha or romali roti and mint chutney. Alternately you can use this keema as filling in samosa or paratha roll. Also, pair some sliced onions and cucumbers to go along.
Yes, this keema is freezer friendly and will come out just as fresh.
A large amount of searing and oil; the absence of potato, tomato makes this keema tin packing friendly. Make sure there is a layer of oil on top.
Hungry for more Keema? Try these!
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📖 Recipe
Dum Ka Keema
Ingredients
Marination
- ½ kg ground meat, lamb or beef
- 1 cup yogurt
- 1 tablespoon green chili paste
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- ½ tablespoon red chili flakes, or less
- 2 teaspoon coriander powder, preferably roasted and grounded
- 2 teaspoon cumin powder, preferably roasted and grounded
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder, skip for less spicy
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili, for color, optional
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon black cumin, optional
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Cook Keema
- â…“ cup oil
- ¼ cup ghee, or butter
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon gram flour, (channe ka atta) ,optional
- 2 inch piece of charcoal, to smoke
Garnish
- 2 inch ginger, cut in juliene
- A handful mint leaves
- Butter, to serve with individual servings.
Instructions
- Take all ingredients of marination in a bowl.
- Mix all and marinate overnight (8 to 32 hours) the in fridge or at least 2 hours on the counter in a cool dry place. Cover the ground meat with a thin cloth or mesh to allow air circulation.
- Heat oil in a pan fry chopped until until golden brown. (Protip: You can also use crushed and fried onions to save time.)
- Add marinated ground meat. Cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes on medium heat. As the keema begins to cook, it will release the juices and it will get easy to stir. Give it a good stir and break the lumps. Cover and continue to cook on low heat until water dries.
- Most of the water has dried. Now we need to sear (bhunna) the dum ka keema for about 10 minutes until keema turns brown, a little darker in color.
- Dry roast gram flour in a pan for 1 minute with constant stirring until fragrant. Add gram flour to mince and mix well. Remove from heat.Protip: Adding gram flour is optional as it mellows down the flavor. Use it only if adding half a cup of water in step 8.
- Heat at least 2 inch peice of thick charcoal. It has to be red hot. In a wide pot place the coal on the keema as shown in above picture. Drizzle oil and cover the keema tightly. Smoke for 10 minutes.
- If you like keema to be juicy add ½ water and let keema simmer on low for 5 minutes until you see the oil separating on the sides of the pan. Protip: You may keep it dry and skip this step and also gram flour.
- Dish out the keema and add a small dollop of butter in the middle. Garnish it with loads of juliene ginger, fresh mint, and sliced onion salad.
Notes
- Ground Meat: You may use beef, mutton, or lamb mince to make this recipe. We want finely grounded meat so ask your butcher to process it through the machine twice.
- Gram Flour: Gram flour is easily available in Indian stores, you can substitute it with chickpea flour too. You may skip it altogether.
- Black cumin: Black cumin has a rich aroma so it is recommended. But you can easily substitute it with white cumin.
- Raw Papaya paste: The raw hard green papaya has the capability to emulsify meat protein so it helps tenderize the meat. You can use any meat tenderizer powder as well. Meat tenderizer powder quickly tenderize meat compared to papaya. So it is a good option if you have little marination time.
- Oil and ghee: Keema tastes best when cooked in ghee. I find a mix of butter and ghee also tastes great.
- Onion:Â I used fresh onion in this recipe. You can also use fried onion. You'll need about â…“ cup crushed fried onions.
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