Beef · Quick · Weeknight

Keema Matar — Spiced Mince with Peas, Done in 30 Minutes

Minced beef cooked dry in a quick masala of onions, tomatoes, and whole spices with bright green peas folded in at the end. Fast, cheap, deeply satisfying.

Prep
10 min
Cook
30 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
Origin
Pakistan-wide
Keema Matar – Spiced Minced Meat with Peas
🥩

Keema matar is the weeknight hero of Pakistani home cooking. It takes 30 minutes, uses ingredients that are almost always available, and produces a dry, intensely spiced mince dish that works with roti, rice, stuffed into a paratha, or eaten on its own with a piece of bread. It is the dish that home cooks make when they want something good without the investment of a karahi or biryani.

The key is the bhunnai technique applied to mince: once you've added the keema, cook it on high heat and keep pressing and breaking it up against the pan. The mince should fry in its own fat and the oil should separate completely before you add tomatoes. This creates a fundamentally different texture than a Western bolognese — drier, more crumbly, each grain of mince separately spiced.


Ingredients

Minced beef or lamb (20% fat)500g
Onion, finely diced2 medium
Tomatoes, finely chopped2 medium
Ginger-garlic paste2 tbsp
Frozen or fresh peas150g
Oil4 tbsp
Cumin seeds1 tsp
Red chilli powder1.5 tsp
Coriander powder2 tsp
Turmeric½ tsp
Garam masala1 tsp
Salt1 tsp
Fresh coriander, to servehandful
Green chillies, chopped2

Method

1

Fry onions to golden

Heat oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat. Add cumin seeds — sizzle 30 seconds. Add onions and cook 15 minutes until deep golden. Add ginger-garlic paste, cook 2 minutes.

2

Add mince and fry it dry

Add mince. Break it up with a spoon and cook on high heat, stirring constantly, for 8–10 minutes. The mince will release water first — keep cooking until all water evaporates and the mince is frying in its own fat with oil separating around the edges. This dry frying is critical.

3

Add tomatoes and spices

Add tomatoes, red chilli, coriander powder, turmeric, and salt. Cook on medium-high, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes until tomatoes are fully incorporated and oil separates again.

4

Fold in peas

Add peas, stir in gently. Cook 5 minutes covered on low heat. The peas should be tender but not mushy and still bright green.

5

Finish and serve

Add garam masala, stir through. Top with fresh coriander and green chillies. Serve with fresh roti or as a stuffing for parathas.

🥩 Fat Percentage Matters

Use mince with at least 15–20% fat. Lean mince dries out and turns grainy. The fat renders during the bhunnai step and becomes the cooking medium for the masala — this is what makes keema rich and satisfying.


Nutrition (per serving)

410
Calories
32g
Protein
18g
Carbs
24g
Fat