Keema, a saucy, spiced, ground meat dish with peas, is comfort food that takes minutes to make in an instant pot! Serve hot with aromatic basmati rice.
What is Keema?
Have you ever had keema before? It’s like an Indian spaghetti sauce, only with fewer tomatoes and way more flavor. Oh, and peas.
Am I crazy for making that comparison? Someone tell me that you agree with me. I mean, it’s essentially an Indian spiced bolognese. You can eat it over pasta if you want, I mean, why not. Normally though, we eat it with plain basmati rice or an Indian flatbread.
I think keema mattar is a good “gateway” dish into Indian cuisine (that and Butter Chicken, of course). It’s a simple, comfort-food dish that you can make with any ground meat, lamb, goat, beef, turkey, chicken, etc.
It’s economical and can be stretched out with peas or potatoes. I always make it with peas, but I’m sure potatoes would be great too – though you’d have to reduce the cook time to 5 minutes, so the potatoes wouldn’t turn to mush. Hey, look at me, giving those of you who actually read what I write an extra recipe!
I’ve also included directions on how to use my onion masala to make this dish even easier. Just check out the notes in the recipe below. 🙂
Keema Ingredients
- Ghee or Oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Serrano pepper or Green Chilli
- Spices: coriander powder, paprika, salt, pepper, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, cayenne, ground cardamom
- Ground Meat
- Canned Diced Tomatoes OR Onion Masala
- Peas
- Cilantro
5 Reasons to Love Keema:
- Easy: this dish is so simple to make, especially if you have my Onion Masala on hand (highly recommend). You can get this dinner started in the Instant Pot in minutes if you have that prepared in advance.
- Everyone loves it: including kids! This is one dish that my whole family enjoys – as I said above, it’s similar enough to Indian spiced spaghetti and a lot of kids like spaghetti.
- Economical: a filling meal made with easy protein: ground meat. Add potatoes to stretch it out even more if you’d like.
- Versatile: eat it with basmati rice, serve it with pasta for kiddos (or yourself), use it to stuff samosas (just saute it to dry it out a bit more first).
- Freezes Well: I almost always make a double batch and freeze half for a rainy day. It freezes and thaws well and is a great meal to prep in advance.
Serve keema with plain Basmati Rice or Jeera Rice. You can also use it as a stuffing in samosas or parathas.
More Indian Main Dish Ideas:
Instant Pot Keema
Instant Pot Keema
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ghee or oil
- 1 onion finely diced
- 4 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 Serrano pepper or green chili minced
Spices
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 pound ground meat of choice
- 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes OR ½ cup onion masala*see notes
- 2 cups fresh or frozen peas
- Cilantro garnish
Instructions
- Press the sauté button, add the ghee and onions and stir-fry for 8-10 minutes, or until the onions begin to brown.
- Add the garlic, ginger, Serrano pepper and spices to the pot. Stir-fry for 30 seconds, then add the ground meat and cook until it is mostly browned.
- Add the diced tomatoes (OR ½ cup onion masala) and peas and mix well
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 10 minutes at high pressure.
- Open the valve to quick release any remaining pressure.
- Press the sauté button to reduce or boil off any extra liquid if needed.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve.
Notes
- If you are following my onion masala series and would like to use it in this recipe, you can use ½ cup onion masala in place of the onions, garlic, ginger, and tomatoes — just toss in the frozen onion masala when you add the peas in step 3. You can also reduce the cook time to 5 minutes if using onion masala.
Sharmila Gidwani says
Hi Ashley,
For the onion masala version, do you add the ground spices AND the onion masala? Since the onion masala already has some spices in it, I wasn’t sure if the additional mentioned in the ingredient list in the keema recipe should be added as well. I have some onion masala ready and would love to make this recipe!
Dan says
Super easy and delicious! I had a bunch of kale about to go wilty, so I chopped it fine and added it along with the peas and tomatoes. I’ll definitely make this again!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Dan, so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how much you like this 🙂
Rob Charlton says
Made this a bunch of times and it has always turned out perfect. Brilliant keema recipe and now my go-to version. Thank you.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Rob, so glad to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how much you like the keema! 🙂
Amanda says
I’m not really following the onion masala instructions. Add oil, cook ground meat, add the garam masala and cardamom and onion masala, and continue from there?
Rosalie Goldberg says
Hi I have a question if you do not own an insta-pot and make this on the stove top or oven how long would it need to cook?
Thank you
Claire says
Made this for dinner tonight and it was awesome! Super easy with the frozen onion masala. My 8, 4 and 1 year olds gobbled it up. My husband says it’s like Indian hamburger helper 😆
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Claire, I love that your kiddos enjoyed it, thanks for sharing that with me 🙂