keema ala tm

Last time I tried making keema curry it was okay but not how I had envisioned it would taste. I posted the recipe that I used here. I then e-mailed my friend, TM for her recipe. (Thank you!) She is an expat living in Tokyo. She happened upon my blog awhile back and we've been e-mail friends ever since.

Yesterday after the rain subsided, the winds picked up and brrr it is a bit nippy today. I wanted something warm for dinner tonight, so I decided to make curry and to try her recipe.

Now, I grew up eating the frozen type, and never actually had to take them out of the pods, nor have I ever bought them in the pods. But, as I was looking at her recipe and reading up in my Japanese cookbooks, I realized peas are in-season.

So, I looked up peas in the dictionary and they are called endo mame . Then I was off to the market to buy my ingredients. Another bonus beside being pea season was that the market I go to had a 10% coupon off all veggies for today!

I bought my peas and removed them from the pods (is there something you can make using just the pods? I thought it a bit wasteful to throw out) then proceeded to make the curry.

Here is her recipe, there aren't any measurements, so I'll give you my notes at the end.

Keema curry by TM

onion
minced beef
garlic
ginger
spices
tomatoes
cilantro
lemon

1. Saute 1 thinly sliced onion in oil until golden/light brown/red--caramelized basically, and crispy

2. Add minced mutton or minced beef, and saute with crushed garlic (5-6 cloves) and same amount of ginger.

3. When meat is browned, add spices: ground coriander, ground cumin, salt, tumeric, red chili powder, and either garam masala powder, or preferably whole cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and black peppercorns. You can also add green peas and potatoes if you are using, at this time.

4. When you can smell the spices cooking, add 1-2 tomatoes--diced or crushed. Tomatoes should be the same amount as the onion.

5. Let simmer covered until the tomatoes blend in with the meat and spices and make a curry. Saute on high until properly cooked. Then you can add a bit of water if you want a wet curry, and let simmer for about 10 minutes until incorporated, or leave as is if you want a dry-ish curry.

6. If you can find it, finely mince fresh green coriander/cilantro leaves and sprinkle on before serving. You can also add a squeeze of lemon juice at this too, if you like, just before serving.

NOTES: I used about 1/2 teaspoon of each spice and 1 can of whole tomatoes. I then added some water so that the potato and peas would cook. And cooked it for about 20 minutes. I didn't squeeze the lemon at the end. It tasted great, still not the flavor that I envisioned but still good. I guess I'll have to figure out what spices I need to come up with the flavor that I'm looking for.

Have a great weekend!