Kheema Matar, Indian lamb dish

Pestle and Mortar used to grind herbs and spices

I have been getting into my Indian Cuisine lately, after stocking my cupboard with the provisions of a large variety of herbs and spices which are needed to make Indian Cuisine from scratch.  I feel I am one step further on my sharp learning curve to making many Indian dishes. 

 Over the years I have dabbled in Indian food but quite frankly I have had little time to research more into the subject to gain indepth knowledge and skill.  When learning anything as we all know there is failures and on superyachts when cooking on a daily bases on Charter their is little time for failure. 

So it should be an exciting little adventure and I hope to bring you many successes to these pages :).

This dish below is wonderfully easy and beautifully aromatic.  Traditionally this is served for breakfast with poppadoms and chutney, personally I don't think I could handle this dish in the morning lol, but wonderful for crew lunch or dinner.

Kheema Matar

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 onions, roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

5cm piece of ginger, roughly chopped

160ml oil

2 Indian bay leaves (cassia leaves)

500g minced lamb

2 Tablespoons tomato puree

1/4 teaspoons ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

2 Tablespoons ground coriander

2 Tablespoons ground cumin

2 Tablespoons thick natural yoghurt

3 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoons ground black pepper

225g frozen peas

1/4 teaspoons garam masala

5 Tablespoons finely chopped coriander

Method

Put onions, garlic, ginger in a food processor and process until finely chopped.  Or chop the onions, garlic and ginger with a knife if haven't got a food processor.

Heat oil in a heavy based frying pan over medium heat and add onion mixture plus the bay leaves.  Fry for 4 minutes or until golden brown.  Add lamb mince and fry for 15 minutes, stirring every now and then to break up the lamb and prevent sticking.

Add the tomato puree and lower the heat.  Add turmeric, chilli powder, coriander and cumin, stir 1 minute.  Add yoghurt, salt and pepper and continue frying for 5 minutes.  Add 200ml water, a little at a time stirring in,  cover the fry pan tightly and cook for 15 minutes.  If the mince starts to stick add more water.

Add peas to mince and cook for another 5 minutes. The mixture should be relatively dry.  Add garam masala and chopped coriander, stir for 1 minute and serve.

I served mine with saag roti and yoghurt, but could be served with poppadoms, mango chutney and turmeric rice.

Note:  Remember chilli powders can dramatically vary in strength so alter amount accordingly.