This is one of my husband's favourite dishes.
Well, to be more specific, this is his favourite Pakistani recipe of mine.
And to be quite fair, I do agree with him. If I had to make a list of my favourite Pakistani foods, Karahi Keema made with mutton or lamb meat would be in my top 5.
Literally, a karahi is a type of pan used to cook food in around the South-East of Asia. It is a shallow circular pan, like a wok, and typically is of a heavy base, often steel or cast iron.
Karahi also refers to a specific kind of curry made in the karahi-pan in the South of Asia.
Such curries are tomato-based and have strong flavours of ginger, garlic and green chilli.The tomato and ginger is a defining aspect of karahi recipes - Without lots of tomato and ginger, you quite simply are not really enjoying the true flavour of a karahi!
Traditionally, Karahi curries do not use onion. This is something my Father has always been adamant about. When I developed this recipe back in 2015 I could never understand the importance of this. Now, as a more seasoned cook (I am editing this in 2020 now), I have grown to have much more appreciation and consideration towards the traditional methods. I have used onion in this recipe, however since this is an incredibly popular recipe on the blog, I am keeping this recipe up the way it originally was written. For a more authentic recipe, check out this chicken keema karahi recipe.
This is a recipe I've tested and tweaked over the months. And it's been a total hit! I find it's one I always come back to again and again, particularly for dawats and dinner parties, just because it comes together so well and tastes so incredibly rich!
The one thing I feel makes a world of a difference is the cut of mince used. I always use chunkier minced meat whenever I cook this recipe. When going to the butchers, instead of asking for machine-cut minced meat, ask for hand-cut, or 'hath ka keema' if your butchers are Pakistani. I have tried this recipe with both types of mince and I find the hath ka keema far more superior. This cut yields more texture and suits this dish much more than machine-mince. This is totally optional but if hath ka keema is available to you I definitely recommend it.
Another thing worth mentioning about karahi dishes is that often, they use a lot of oil. This is to bypass all the moisture and thickness of the tomatoes.
In this particular recipe, I have used less because this is a recipe on regular rotation in my house and I don't want this to be an extremely fatty meal. However if I were to be serving this to guests, I could easily double the amount of oil. Oil helps the meat brown better and gives a more desi look to the end dish. It's your call - add more oil or stick to the amount I've used depending on how you feel.
One final note regarding the ginger in this recipe. Ginger is only used as garnish in this recipe - I have been told by someone whose cooking experience I trust that traditionally ginger is only to be used as garnish and not in the actual karahi dish. Why? I didn't actually find out from him, but I think it is so the ginger remains a strong, pronounced and a visible part of the dish. Raw garlic definitely has a different taste to ginger which has been cooked into the dish in the early stages. As with all recipes, you are completely free to add grated or minced ginger in the earlier stages of the cooking!
Enjoy, with love x
Also - try my Chicken Karahi Keema too! Get the recipe here
📋 Recipe
Pakistani Karahi Keema
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoon (90 ml) oil
- 1 ½ medium onion chopped
- 8 cloves garlic
- 3 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1 lb (½ kg) minced meat lamb, chicken, goat, beef etc
- 7 (800 g) tomatoes chopped finely
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon cumin
- 2 ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
- 0.5 teaspoon garam masala
- coriander for garnish, optional
- green chilli for garnish, optional
- julienned ginger for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Begin by heating the oil in your pan or pot. Once heated, add the onions, garlic and ginger and saute till brown
- Add the minced meat and brown.
- Once sufficiently browned, add all the spices and 1 cup of water for lamb, beef or goat and ½ cup for chicken. Bring to a boil, then allow to simmer.
- Simmer till the meat is ¾ of the way cooked. This will vary for the kind of meat you have but I find the times to be around 25 minutes for lamb and mutton, 35 minutes for beef and 10 minutes for chicken. Once this stage is reached, add in the tomatoes.
- Continue to simmer on medium-high until the water begins to dry out and the oil starts to separate from the curry. You will need to stay near the stove constantly at this point to ensure the water dries without allowing the curry to burn.
- Once the water has mostly evaporated and the consistency is of your liking, turn off the heat.
- Garnish with julienned ginger, green chilli and chopped coriander (optional)
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Nadia Sultana
whwere do you add the spices?
Bryan
Tried, tested, just brilliant .must have been good, wife ask me to do another one today.
Roy
I cooked this recipe yesterday - It is getting rave reviews! It was delicious - thank you.
Fatima Cooks
Thrilled to hear that, Roy! Thank you for sharing 😄
Neeta Kamat
Yummy recipe
Fatima Cooks
Thank you!
S S Shaikh
My kids don't eat keema and everytime it would go waste. I tried this recipe and they loved it! First time, keema was completely gone and they loved it. ( I've tried adding keema to rice/ pasta etc, nothing ever worked!)
So happy to have come across this recipe, it's also an impressive one for when one has guests over. It was very delicious, instructions easy and simple to follow, all ingredients readily available in every kitchen! 10/10 for this recipe.
Fatima
Thank you so much!!! 🥹❤️
Ramsha
Hi, love the sound of the recipe. I am going to cook it for lunch today. And I loved how you've written the instructions of the recipe. Reading it felt like it, you were given advice to a friend as you were telling her the recipe. Put a smile on my face. Thank you for this post.
Fatima
Thank you so much for your kind words, I appreciate them ♥️
Roopali Kalra
Omg - this was exactly how my mom’s keema tasted. Thank you so much for this authentic recipe.
Fatima
Honoured! Thank you so much x
Peah
I dont have store bought garam masala. I tried to do my own but i found so many different recipes for garam masala. Can you please share with me the basic recipe for homemade garam masala please. Thank you.
Fatima
I tend to use the garam masala by Swasthi's recipes. It should come up with a Google search!
Dorota
I'm polish,my husband is from Pakistan. Thanks to you Fatima. I cooking every day different dinner for him. I love it!!! all recipe are good 😊 thank you so much ❤️
Fatima
Thank you for your comment, Dorota! I am so happy you both are enjoying my recipes <3
Wish
Hi Fatima, LOVE your recipes and looking to make this one soon. Please could you clarify if the cumin is ground or seeds? Thank you!
Fatima
Ground is what I meant, but you could totally use seeds too. I better update the recipe card! Thanks for pointing it out
Sobia
I made this for my family and it was amazing. This has now become my go to keema recipe. Thanks Fatima for sharing this with us
Fatima
I'm so so happy to hear that, Sobia!! Allahuma barik <3
Naseem Moolla
This recipe sounds wonderful. I can't wait to try it out.
Just one quick question - is it okay to substitute tinned tomatoes for fresh?
Fatima
Thank you!
I personally never recommend with tinned tomatoes. But you can if you want to, it definitely won't taste as good though
Shaz
Sorry for last message !! Was in error meant to say excellent recipe. Thanks so much ! X
Shaz
Hi at which point do you add the tomatoes ? And how much ?
Thanks
Fatima
step 4
johon
helpful post . i like it.
Ballal
Smells fantastic... Making it just now.
Ayesha
I tried it..turned out yummy..thanks
Ralph
Main ingrediants doesnt list the ginger!!
Shell
Tried most of your amazing recipes. Turn out perfect everytime xx
NJ Perry
Love this recipe! It was pretty straight-forward and turned out very, very well. I went for the freshest ingredients I could get, and I'm sure it made a big difference. For others of you in the US (I'm in DC), just go with slightly under a pound of meat for this recipe.
Farjad Zaidi
I’m a pretty rookie with cooking so please bear with me. I tried exactly what you wrote but I wasn’t sure when to add tomatoes and I didn’t have ginger (it was optional) as it was not in the ingredient list—it was only mentioned to use as for garnishing it.
Nas
At which step do you add tomatoes?
Along with the spices? Step 3 that is.
Zeinab Ahmad
Hey Fatima, I've been using your recipes for well over one year now (I recently got married) and literally you are my life saver!!! I thought it was about time I let you know lol!
Thank you for all your amazing recipes X
Fatima
Thank you, Zeinab! SO glad I've been of help! Much love x
Mohammed Iqbal
Fatima, your a godsend, your recipes are fantastic. Keep it up. By the way can you post karai chicken recipe?
Vinnie
I've cooked this a coupe of times and it is brilliant!
Fatima
Thank you! It's one of my favourite recipes 🙂
Omair
This is by far the best qeema recipe i have tried. Simple, quick and full of taste. Big thumbs up
Fatima
Thank you!
Omair
@Fatima, can't believe I commented in 2017 after trying this recipe for the first time. Now, this is the only qeema recipe
I follow and just made it today for the umpteenth time. Thank you once again.
Fatima
Hi Omair! I'm so happy you have enjoyed this recipe. It's one of my favourites! And thank you so so much for taking the time out to comment, I am truly so happy you like it!
farhan
thank u so much....i.m bachelor livind in saudia these days.....this is so much helpfull....awsome