Keema matar is minced meat, usually beef or lamb, fried with onion, ginger, garlic, tomato and ground spices, then finished with green peas. This recipe uses 450 g (1 lb) of beef mince, serves 4 and takes about 45 minutes from a cold pan to the table.
One thing decides whether it works: cooking the spiced mince until the oil separates and the masala stops tasting raw. Everything below is built around that moment.
Last updated
Recipe
Keema Matar (Minced Meat and Peas Curry)
Ingredients
Method
- Heat the oil in a wide pan over high heat. Add the cumin seeds, the bay leaf if using, and the onion, and fry for about 8 minutes, stirring, until the onion is golden brown.
- Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 1 minute until they smell cooked rather than raw. Add the beef and cook for about 5 minutes, breaking it up with a spoon, until no pink remains.
- Add the tomato, green chilli, yogurt, ground coriander, chilli powder, turmeric and salt. Stir and fry for 2 minutes, until the tomato starts to soften.
- Turn the heat down to medium, cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring once. If the mince starts to catch on the bottom, add a splash of water.
- Stir in the peas and the 120 ml of water. Cover and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the peas are tender.
- Uncover, add the black pepper, garam masala and chopped coriander, and stir for 1 to 2 minutes until the oil separates at the edge of the pan. Taste and adjust the salt.
- Take the pan off the heat, squeeze over the lemon or lime juice and scatter over more coriander. Serve hot with roti, naan or rice.
What is keema matar?
Keema matar is a dry-style curry of minced meat and peas. Keema means minced meat in Urdu and Hindi, and matar means peas. It is everyday home food in Pakistan and north India, eaten with roti, naan or rice.
The dish has no single fixed recipe. The Pakistani and Indian versions that rank for it agree on the shape, though: heat oil, fry whole cumin, take the onions to golden brown, add ginger and garlic, add the ground meat and brown it, add tomato and the powdered spices, then reduce the heat and cook covered for about 15 minutes on medium before the peas go in. This keema matar recipe follows that shared method and uses the quantities at least two of three sources agree on.
Total time is about 45 minutes, of which 30 minutes is cooking. The card gives no separate prep time because the sources disagree on it by a factor of three.
Ingredients for this keema matar recipe
Keema matar needs mince, onions, ginger, garlic, tomato, green peas and five spices: cumin seeds, coriander powder, red chili powder, turmeric and garam masala. The exact amounts are in the recipe card; this is what each ingredient does.
- Meat: 450 g (1 lb) of ground beef that is not extra lean. Ground lamb and ground chicken work too; see the next section.
- Whole spices: cumin seeds and an optional bay leaf go into the hot oil first, so they flavour the oil before anything else is added.
- Onions: one medium onion, fried golden brown, gives the masala its sweetness and colour.
- Ginger and garlic: fresh and finely chopped, or ginger paste and garlic paste from a jar.
- Tomato and green chilli: one medium to large tomato breaks down into the base of the masala; green chilli adds fresh heat.
- Powder spices: coriander powder (ground coriander) gives body, red chili powder gives heat and red colour, and turmeric powder gives a yellow undertone. Black pepper and garam masala go in at the end, for aroma.
- Green peas: frozen and thawed, added in the last few minutes so they stay bright.
One shopping note for US readers: supermarket “chili powder” is usually a blend that includes cumin and oregano, which makes keema taste like chili con carne. Use plain red chili powder from a South Asian or Indian grocery, or Kashmiri chili powder if you want more colour and less heat.
The step that decides it: cook until the oil separates
Keema matar is done when a thin layer of oil shows at the edge of the pan and the mince looks glossy rather than wet. That is the sign the tomato has broken down and the spices have cooked in fat instead of steaming.
The most common mistake is stopping too early. If the mince is still sitting in pale, watery juice, the coriander and chilli taste dusty and the peas taste as if they were added to plain meat. Keep the lid off for the last couple of minutes and stir until the liquid has gone and the oil reappears.
The second mistake is the onion. Golden brown takes about 8 minutes on high heat. Translucent onion gives a sweeter, paler keema; it is not wrong, but it is a different dish.
Which meat to use: ground beef, lamb or chicken
Beef and lamb (or mutton) mince are the usual choices for keema, and chicken or turkey mince works with a shorter simmer. Tea for Turmeric and Chai and Churros both use 1 lb of ground beef; Afelia's Kitchen uses mutton mince, the same as ground lamb from an older animal; Nourish Deliciously and Easy Cooking with Molly use ground chicken.
Choose mince that is not extra lean. Fat carries the spices and is what you see separating at the end. Very lean mince gives a dry, grainy keema that never looks glossy. If you only have lean mince, keep the full 3 tablespoons of oil.
Chicken mince cooks faster. Nourish Deliciously simmers it covered for 8 to 10 minutes and notes that red meat needs longer, so use the full 15 minutes for beef or lamb.
Dry keema matar or a curry with gravy
Home-style keema matar is dry: the meat coats the peas and there is no pool of sauce. This recipe adds only 120 ml (half a cup) of water with the peas, the same amount Tea for Turmeric, Chai and Churros and Easy Cooking with Molly use, and most of it cooks off.
For a looser curry to spoon over rice, add more water at the pea stage. Afelia's Kitchen adds about a pint of water to a kilo of mince and boils it down to a thin gravy. Taste for salt after the water goes in, because a wetter curry needs more.
Step by step, in pictures
Fry the cumin seeds and onion until golden brown.- Add garlic and ginger, then brown the mince.
- Add tomato, chilli, yogurt and the ground spices.
- Cover and cook gently for 15 minutes.
- Stir in the peas and a little water.
- Finish with garam masala, coriander and lemon.
Variations
Aloo keema matar (with potatoes)
Add potatoes with the peas. Chai and Churros uses 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 2.5 cm (1 inch) cubes, for 1 lb of beef, and cooks them covered with the peas and half a cup of water until tender. Expect the covered simmer to run longer, because the potato needs it.
Indian-style chicken keema matar
Swap the beef for the same weight of chicken mince and shorten the covered simmer to 8 to 10 minutes. Easy Cooking with Molly's Indian chicken keema matar also stirs in plain yogurt for a creamier, milder curry.
Tomato from a tin
Milk Street's version uses a 14.5 oz (411 g) can of whole tomatoes and 2 tablespoons of tomato paste instead of fresh tomato. Tinned tomato gives a redder, saucier keema; fresh tomato keeps it drier. Chai and Churros uses 2 medium tomatoes rather than one, which also pushes it towards a sauce.
The shorter route, and what it costs
You can skip the 15-minute covered cook and go straight from browning the mince to adding the peas. It saves a quarter of an hour. What you lose is texture and depth: the mince stays firmer and grainier, and the ground spices taste harsher because they have not had time to soften in the tomato.
A quicker cut that costs less is ready-made ginger-garlic paste instead of chopping. Chai and Churros does this with 2 tablespoons of paste. Add it after the onions and stir for a full minute so it loses its raw smell before you add the ground meat.
What to serve with keema matar
Serve keema matar hot as a main dish with roti, chapati, naan or plain rice, with raw onion and lemon on the side. A soft flatbread such as peshwari naan scoops it well, and spiced mince is the same kind of filling used in keema naan.
For a fuller Pakistani meal, put it beside a rice dish such as yakhni pulao or another curry like chicken karahi.
Storing and reheating
Refrigerate leftover keema matar within 2 hours of cooking and eat it within 3 to 4 days, which is the USDA guidance for cooked leftovers. Frozen in a sealed container, it keeps its best quality for 3 to 4 months.
Reheat it until steaming hot all the way through, 74 °C (165 °F), with a splash of water to loosen it. Ground beef should reach 71 °C (160 °F) when it is first cooked; check with a probe thermometer if you are unsure.
Questions people ask
What does keema mean?
Keema means minced meat in Urdu and Hindi. Keema matar is minced meat cooked with matar, the word for green peas.
What type of meat is used to make keema?
Keema is usually made with beef or lamb (mutton) mince. Chicken and turkey mince also work and need a shorter covered simmer, about 8 to 10 minutes instead of 15.
Is keema matar healthy?
Keema matar is a home-cooked dish of meat, peas, onion, tomato and spices, so how it fits your diet depends mostly on the mince you choose and how much oil you use. This page gives no calorie or nutrition figures because none of the sources publish verified ones.
Can I use frozen peas in keema matar?
Yes. Most published versions, including Tea for Turmeric and Afelia’s Kitchen, use frozen peas. Thaw them first and add them near the end so they stay bright green; they need only 3 to 5 minutes.
How long does keema matar take to cook?
Keema matar takes about 45 minutes in total, with 30 minutes of cooking time: about 8 minutes to brown the onions, 5 minutes to brown the meat, 15 minutes covered on medium heat, and a few minutes for the peas.
How do I make keema matar less spicy?
Reduce the red chili powder to the low end of the range in the card, take the seeds out of the green chilli or leave it out, or use Kashmiri chili powder, which is milder.
Why is my keema watery?
Watery keema has not been cooked long enough after the tomato goes in. Take the lid off and keep stirring over medium heat until the liquid evaporates and the oil shows at the edge of the pan.
Can I make keema matar ahead?
Yes. Keema matar reheats well and keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge. Add a splash of water when reheating, and add the fresh coriander and lemon after reheating, not before.
