This chicken keema is made with simple, everyday ingredients and will have everyone reaching for seconds. Sutbly saucy, mega delicious, and goes well with naan, roti, and rice.
I love ground meat dishes, be it beef or chicken. The cooking goes fast, and the flavors coat the meat through and through.
If you've been around here, you know I am all for optimizing the prep efforts. Like pureeing ingredients in the blender to reduce chopping, where possible. Combining all the spices into a pre-made mix, so I'm not scrambling for them mid-cooking. And I use both those approaches here, too.
Then, when I turn on the burner to make the keema, it all goes pretty seamlessly. Onions get sauteed, followed by spice mix and pureed veggies. Qeema goes in, a few finishing ingredients, and just like that, dinner's done.
If you like qeema meals as much as I do, try my other chicken qeema recipe that has potatoes, or this aloo beef keema. Both so good!
Pre-cooking notes and tips
- Hand-cut meat is my fav for this recipe. But if machine-cut ground/minced chicken is all you can find, no biggie.
- Red and yellow onions both work fine. Use what you've got on hand.
- I exclusively use Roma tomatoes for all my desi dishes. Some tomato varieties can be too sweet and lack the right level of acidity. Get red, ripest ones you can find. Ideally, they should have a very slight give, but shouldn't be too soft.
- Speaking of tomatoes, if your tomatoes aren’t fully ripe or aren't in season, adding tomato paste will pep up the overall taste. It'll also give the qeema a more pronounced red-ish pop of color. When needed, I use about one tablespoon of paste per pound of meat. Don’t reduce the amount of fresh tomatoes, though, as they add body and volume to the sauce.
- You can swap in lime juice for lemon. Just use a bit less. For every tablespoon of lemon juice, go with about ¾ tablespoon of lime.
- Fresh chilies can vary a lot in heat, so adjust the amount as you see fit. I use red or green Thai/bird’s eye chilies. Serrano peppers can also be subbed in.
- I like to garnish my keema with finely chopped green chilies cause both Samad and I love a nice kick. Taste the dish once it's ready, see if you'd like to up the spice, and do the same.
Serving ideas
I love this dish with warm naan and basmati rice. Roti, kulcha and paratha also pair well. If you’re up for a little extra effort while the keema cooks, make some fresh kachumber to go with it (don’t forget to season it with salt and a squeeze of lemon juice - YUM).
And that's a wrap!
I hope you enjoy this qeema as much as I do. If you give it a go, comment and rate down below. I'd love to hear how it turned out in your kitchen.
Happy cooking ~ Nelo
Chicken Keema (Pakistani Ground Chicken Recipe)
Ingredients
Spice Mix
- 1.25 teaspoon cumin powder - aka zeera powder
- 1.25 teaspoon coriander powder - aka dhaniya powder
- 1.25 teaspoon salt - white/table salt
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper powder - aka kali mirch powder
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder - aka haldi powder
- 3 cloves - aka laung
- 1 inch piece of cinnamon stick - aka dalchini
- 1 black cardamom - aka bari elaichi
Blended Mixture
- 3 (300 g) tomatoes - I prefer Roma tomatoes (Note A)
- 4 cloves garlic - peeled
- 1 inch piece of ginger - peeled
- 2 small green chilies - I use Thai/bird's eye (Note B)
Other Ingredients
- ⅓ cup cooking oil
- 1 medium (100 g) onion - finely chopped/diced
- 1 pound (500 g) ground chicken - aka chicken mince/keema
- ¼ cup yogurt - whisked until smooth
- 1 inch piece of ginger - cut into very thin matchsticks (julienned)
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro - aka coriander/dhaniya
- 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice - fresh
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix together ingredients listed under "spice mix" and set aside.
- In a blender or food processor, put all the ingredients listed under "blended mixture" and process until completely smooth. Don't add water. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a wide pot/pan/karahi (preferably non-stick) over medium-high heat. Add diced onion, and cook until the edges start to turn golden. Don't let it brown.
- Add spice mix and stir for about 10 seconds. Add the prepared blended mixture, stir, and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Reduce heat just enough to maintain a gentle simmer. Stir occasionally.
- Then add ground chicken (keema) along with ½ cup of water. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook until chicken is no longer pink. Break any lumps as you go.
- Cover, reduce the heat to low, or just enough to maintain a very gentle simmer. Cook 12 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add yogurt and mix well. Cover and continue cooking over low heat until the liquid reduces, keema begins to glisten and some oil starts to separate.
- Add julienned ginger, chopped cilantro, lemon juice. Stir for a minute, turn off the heat, cover and let it rest for 10 minutes on the same burner. Enjoy with hot naan, roti or rice.
Leave a Comment