Creamy Pistachio Keema, made with SN1

The toasted note and crunch of pistachio, meeting a creamy spice sauce 🍛.

SPICE CURRY SPICE PACK (Spice Curry Spice Pack Symphony No.1 / SN1) — a creamy pistachio keema.

Pistachios have a satisfying bite and a deep flavour, and they are nutritious enough to be called a superfood. We wanted a plate you could eat by the spoonful, saying “this is good” to each other over a pile of pistachios — so we wrote this recipe.

It is surprisingly simple and easy. The savoury depth of the pork mince and cheese, and the texture of the potato, both do good work here 😋

Ingredients (serves 4)　　

• SN1 / starter spices (the whole-spice sachet): 1 sachet
• SN1 / powder spices (the ground-spice sachet): 1 sachet
• Onion: 1/2
• Potato: 1
• Pistachios: 70g
• Garlic: about 1–2 cloves (sliced)
• Pork mince: 200g
• Double cream: 100ml
• Milk: 100ml
• Grated hard cheese: 30g
• Salt: 1 tsp
• Olive oil: 3 tbsp
  
  

Preparation

• Slice the garlic.
• Chop the onion finely.
• Chop the potato into 1cm dice.
• Splitting the cardamom in the starter spices (the whole-spice sachet) lengthways with scissors or a knife lifts the aroma
  
  

Preparing the pistachios

1. If the pistachios are still in their shells, shell them.
2. Toast them in a frying pan until they smell toasted.
3. Blitz them, or crush them roughly with a rolling pin.

The thin skin on a pistachio is full of nutrients, so we recommend using them as they are. Keeping a few whole for decoration is worth doing too — they look good on the plate.

About the poached egg on top

• For how to make a poached egg, see here.

💡For this recipe we put a poached egg on top of the keema over rice. It looks generous and appetising, but you can leave it out entirely. Personally I found the keema and pistachio came through more honestly without it — but if you like eggs, the mildness of the yolk changes the flavour considerably, so it is worth trying 🤗

Method

1. Put the “olive oil: 3 tbsp” into a pan, add the “starter spices (the whole-spice sachet)”, and set it over a low heat.
   
   
2. When the mustard seeds start to crackle, add the sliced “garlic”.
   
   
3. Once the garlic smells good, add the “onion”, stir it in, then turn the heat to medium and cook for about 5 minutes, until it turns translucent.
   
   

   There is a lot of olive oil here, so you should not need much water, but if it looks as though it might catch, add a splash of water and keep cooking gently.

   
   
   
4. Add the “potato”, fry for about 2 minutes, then add the “pork mince: 200g” and the “salt: 1 tsp” and fry.
   
   
5. When the meat is nearly cooked, add half of the powder spices and fry them in.
   
   

   Cooking the powder spices through properly is the point here.

   
   
   
6. Once the powder spices have cooked and settled into everything, turn the heat down low and add the double cream: 100ml, milk: 100ml, grated hard cheese: 30g and the pistachios.
   
   
7. When it starts to bubble, add the remaining half of the “powder spices” and stir it in.
   
   
8. Adjust the salt and it is done.

If you want more heat, sprinkle over some chilli powder or black pepper once it is plated 🌶

About the grated hard cheese 🧀 used in this recipe

We used Grana Padano, which is widely used in Italian kitchens. It really does taste markedly different from Parmesan. Parmigiano is a little expensive, and in our house Grana Padano is just right for everyday use 🧀

Inspice spice curry spice sets contain none of the usual sources of heat — chilli, cayenne pepper or chilli powder — so please add heat to your own taste.