Keema Recipe, The BEST Bhuna Lamb Keema

Name: Keema Recipe (The BEST)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 500 gm ground meat / mince (beef / mutton / lamb); ½ cup oil (see notes 1); 2 medium (325 gm) onion (sliced, about 2 cups)); 3 medium (300 gm) tomatoes (chopped); 1 tablespoon cumin powder (preferably roasted and grounded); 1 ½ tablespoon coriander powder (preferably roasted and grounded); ½ tablespoon red chilli flakes (less or skip to reduce heat); 4 cloves; 8-10 black pepper (or less ); ½ inch cinnamon stick; 1 whole black cardamom; 1 tablespoon minced green chili (or less); ½ tablespoon minced garlic; ½ tablespoon minced ginger; 2 tablespoon lemon juice; ½ cup yogurt ( whipped); 2 tablespoon butter (optional); 3-4 jalapeno peppers (thick slices); 2 inch ginger (cut in julienne); ¼ cup fresh coriander ( chopped); ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder (preferably freshly grounded)

Sep 12, 2020 · Modified: Jan 14, 2022 by Mariam Sodawater · This post may contain affiliate links. 23 Comments

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4.96 from 23 votes

I bet this is the best-fried keema recipe made in 35 minutes. The bhuna technique and spices give so much flavor to the ground lamb. This recipe will become your family favorite.

Keema served in small black pot with onion slices and lemon wedges on the side.

It is the most common mince meat dish cooked in every Indian / Pakistani home. Keema literally means to mince anything. In broader terms, keema means Indian Pakistani curried ground meat.

Why this recipe works?

This taste of this keema recipe is absolutely rich because of the browning technique and then braising the ground meat curry to accentuate the flavors. Bhuna means to stir-fry on high flame so when mincemeat is fried with spices on high flame, the result is bhuna keema.

The flavor of bhuna keema is distinct and stronger than regular keema curry. I recommend cooking it in a wok or large bottomed vessel like a frying pan which allows plenty of searing surfaces. I used ground lamb to make lamb keema but you can use any red meat.

Ingredients

So we need just basic Indian curry ingredients for this keema recipe. What is important is the freshness of the ingredients.

Ground meat: You can make this bhuna keema with ground lamb, beef, or mutton mince. Best tasting bhuna keema is made with beef mince that has 20% fat. However, for the healthy options, you may take low-fat, lamb leg mince. (That's what I used.)
Onions: I fried freshly sliced onion for this recipe. But if you have pre-fried onions in hand, you can use that too. You'll need about half cup fried onions.
Tomatoes: I used fresh tomatoes, you can used packed tomato puree or paste. The cooking time while reduce.
Ginger, chillies and garlic: If you want the best-tasting keema bursting with Indian flavors, use fresh spices.
This means using freshly minced ginger, garlic, and chilies. You can combine ginger, garlic and chillies and mince together in a processor.
Red chili flakes: I like the taste of red chili flakes, you can use red chili powder too.
Cumin and coriander: I always keep a bottle of pre-roasted and grounded cumin and coriander in my pantry. The flavor are greatly enhanced by roasting.
For this, you can dry roast cumin and coriander separately in a pan on medium heat for a few seconds until fragrant.
Then grind it into a fine powder and store in air-tight jars at room temperature for up to 30 days. You can use this powder in other Indian chicken curries as well. If you are in hurry you can use regular ground cumin and corriander but roasting is recommended.
Indian spices: Other Indian spices are common. You can skip if do not have 1 or 2 spices. We need turmeric, whole cinnamon, whole black cardamom, cloves, and pepper. You can also sub ground spices for whole.
Cilantro and julliene ginger: are almost always used to garnish.
Lemon wedges: These are personal preferences, so i'd prefer to serve along.

How to make?

Below is an easy pictorial to make lamb keema recipe in 6 steps. (You can use beef or mutton keema too.)

Fry thinly sliced onions in little oil on medium-low flame until golden brown.
When the onion is golden and crispy, add dry spices first, give it a stir then add wet spices like chilli, garlic and ginger. Stir well for few seconds. (Try to use fresh spices for best taste. See ingredients section above for more details.)
Add tomatoes and salt, stir well, cover, and cook for 5 minutes until tomatoes are soft and melted. You should see some oil separating on the sides of the pan.
Add groundmeat, stir well. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes. I used ground lamb but any ground red meat is good.The ground mince color changes. Let some of the water evaporate. Keep stirring at regular intervals.
Add yogurt and lemon, butter, and fry (bhun-na) qeema on a medium-high flame, until oil separates and groundmeat turns brown.
If you like a little gravy, you can add ½ cup water and bring the keema to a full boil.
Garnish and serve with naan, chapati or roti, raita, and some fresh kachumber salad.

Keema serves in a bowl with roti and rice in the background.

Tips

The bhuna keema recipe has high-fat content and low water content which makes it ideal for preservation. It is also great as picnic food; ideal for canning food on travel and stays good at room temperature for several hours.

The trick to best keema is to fry the mince until you see a golden browning in qeema (browning) and oil separates profusely. This is like searing and is called bhuna ( bhun-na) in Urdu.

This is soul survival food that is very adaptive and can be added in pies, like make a base of this keema in shepherd's pie. Or add this bhuna keema in mince lasagna, paratha rolls, sandwiches, samosa filling, Bohra lasanyo, or aloo patties. Plus it is super easy and simple to cook.

Keema served in a plate with onion slices, roti and rice. Ginger is used to garnish.

Recipe FAQs

What to eat with keema curry?

Keema is best eaten with any flat bread-like, roti, chapati, naan, or karak double roti. You can pair it with bread, buns, pita bread, or rice too.

What else can I add in Keema?

If you love a combo of veggies, you can add green pea to make Keema Matar curry or potato to make Aloo keema curry. Some readers also suggested adding herbs like fenugreek leaves, garlic chives, and dill leaves.

Hungry for keema recipes? Check these here!

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What else do you make with keema? Please share in comments, I would love to read.