Keema|Bhuna Keema Lamb / Beef (2024)

4.98 from 44 votes

I bet this is the best-fried Pakistani 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.

Why does this recipe work?

The taste of this Pakistani keema recipe is absolutely rich because of the browning technique and then braising of 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.

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 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 a cup of fried onions.
• Tomatoes: I used fresh tomatoes, you can use packed tomato puree or paste. The cooking time will be reduced
• Ginger, chilies, 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 chilies and mince them 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 is 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 coriander 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 the whole.
• Cilantro and julienne ginger: are almost always used to garnish.
• Lemon wedges: These are personal preferences, so I'd prefer to serve along.

How to make it?

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

1. Fry thinly sliced onions in little oil on medium-low flame until golden brown.
2. When the onion is golden and crispy, add dry spices first, give it a stir then add wet spices like chili, garlic, and ginger. Stir well for a few seconds. (Try to use fresh spices for the best taste. See the ingredients section above for more details.)
3. 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.
4. Add ground meat, and 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.
5. Add yogurt and lemon, butter, and fry (bhun-na) qeema on a medium-high flame, until oil separates and the ground meat turns brown.
6. If you like a little gravy, you can add ½ cup of water and bring the keema to a full boil.
7. Garnish and serve with naan, chapati or roti, raita, and some fresh kachumber salad.

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.

Recipe FAQs

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