Chunky Potato Keema Curry, made with SN3

SPICE CURRY SPICE PACK (Spice Curry Spice Pack Symphony No.3 / SN3) makes this Chunky Potato Keema Curry.

Keema curry comes from India, the home of curry. In Hindi and Urdu, keema means finely cut or minced meat, so a keema curry is a curry made with minced meat.

This recipe uses a beef and pork mince, joining the savour of the meat to the flavour and texture of potato, and pulls it all together with the herbal blend of SN3 — a keema curry that is simple and deep-flavoured at once.

Adding 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar is what draws the flavour out. If you cannot get hold of any, mix Worcestershire sauce and vinegar 1:1 and use that instead.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• SN3 / starter spices (the bag of whole spices): 1 bag
• SN3 / powder spices (the bag of ground spices): 1 bag
• Tomato purée: 1 pack (about 150g)
• Onion: 1
• Garlic (grated): 2 tsp (1–2 cloves)
• Ginger (grated): 1 tbsp
• Beef and pork mince: 300g
• Potato: 1
• Grated hard cheese: 50g
• Balsamic vinegar: 1 tsp
• Salt: 2 tsp
• Water: 100ml
• Red wine: 1 tbsp (leave it out if you have none)
• Oil: 3 tbsp (for this recipe we suggest olive oil)

Add a boiled egg on top if you like.

Preparation

• Grate the garlic, then the ginger, in that order.
  
  

  If you have no grater, chop them finely

  
  
• Chop or slice the onion.
  
  
• Cut the potato into cubes of about 2cm.
  
  

Method

1. Put the oil: 3 tbsp in a pan over low heat, and once the oil has warmed, add the starter spices (the bag of whole spices).
   
   
2. When the cardamom (the green pods) puff up, add the grated garlic and ginger and cook for about 30 seconds, stirring them through the spices.
   
   
3. Add the onion, stir it thoroughly through the spices, then turn the heat to high and splash in water again and again as you cook it properly until it is amber.
   
   
   
   
   

   How far you cook the onion changes the finished dish more than anything else. “It came out watery”, “the tomato tastes too sharp”, “it lacks depth” — the single biggest cause of all three is moving on to the next step before the onion has gone amber. Cook it for a full 12 to 15 minutes and keep going until it is properly amber. The points are: keep the heat at medium to high spread the onion evenly across the pan and leave it, then stir; spread it evenly and leave it again, then stir — and repeat whenever you stir and feel something catching on the base of the pan, splash in a little water (in our experience, about 2 tbsp of water each time, roughly five times in all) Splashing in water carries the savour the onion releases through the whole pan and keeps it from catching while it turns amber. Letting it colour just enough to need a splash of water is, if anything, exactly what draws the flavour out. It takes a little time and attention, but it is the step that decides the result, so give it the care it needs.

   
   
   
4. Once the onion is amber, add the potato and cook it in.
   
   
   
   
5. Switch to medium heat and add the tomato purée, balsamic vinegar: 1 tsp, red wine: 1 tbsp and grated cheese: 50g.
   
   From this state ↓
   
   
   ↓ cook off the moisture properly, down to a paste about like this
   
   
   
6. Add the beef and pork mince: 300g and salt: 2 tsp, and cook until no red remains.
   
   
   
   
7. Add all of the powder spices and work them through, thinking of it as cooking the powder itself through.
   
   
8. Keeping the heat at medium, add the water: 100ml.
   
   
9. Once you see it come to the boil, lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
   
   
10. Finally, taste and adjust the salt.

That is it.

Buy the spice packs here

Inspice spice curry spice sets contain none of the chilli, cayenne or red pepper that usually carries the heat, so add as much as you like to suit your taste.

Make this keema curry as the recipe is written first, then enjoy adapting it into your own household’s spice curry.