Natasha Gandhi makes a wonderful Bombay-style green keema. The problem is that Natasha Gandhi has a family. I do not. Her recipe is the kind of recipe you should absolutely make if you want to do things properly. There are steps. There is attention. There is layering of flavour. There is standing at the stove and doing the things that good cooks do. This recipe is not that recipe.
This recipe is for the busy single girl who looks at a recipe with six separate stages and thinks, 'Absolutely not. I have things to do.'
What I do have is a small three-cup Toyomi rice cooker and a deep appreciation for recipes that can be thrown into a pot and ignored for long periods of time. So naturally I started wondering whether green keema could be made in the rice cooker. Turns out it can.
The beauty of keema is that it wants to cook for a long time anyway. Lamb mince, onions, garlic and spices all eventually melt into each other if you leave them alone long enough. By about the one to one-and-a-half-hour mark, everything is essentially dead, disintegrated and doing exactly what it should be doing.
I've added a few things over time. A little loomi powder. A pinch of mace. More herbs than any sensible person would probably use. The result sits somewhere between an Indian green keema and something that wandered in from the Gulf. Most importantly, it works. And at the end of it all, you have a deeply flavoured green keema that tastes like you spent far more effort on it than you actually did.
Also: Green Keema Biryani
Ingredients
- 175g lamb mince
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 green chilli, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- ¼ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ⅛ tsp mace powder
- ¼ tsp loomi powder
- ¾ tsp salt
- — Green Slurry —
- 50–60g coriander, including stems
- 25–30g mint leaves
- 1 generous handful frozen spinach
- 3–4 tbsp plain yogurt
- — To Finish —
- ⅓ cup frozen petit pois
- 1 tsp kasuri methi, crushed between your palms
Method
- Add the onion, garlic, ginger, green chilli, ghee, lamb mince and all the spices to the rice cooker. Break up the mince with a spoon.
- Add enough water to bring the contents up to the three-cup line of your rice cooker. Do not exceed the line — the lamb and onions will release additional liquid as they cook.
- Set the rice cooker to Soup mode. Cook for approximately 1½ hours.
- While the keema cooks, blend together the coriander, mint, frozen spinach and yogurt until mostly smooth.
- After 1½ hours, check the keema. You should see the oil beginning to separate from the meat. Stir in the green slurry, frozen peas and crushed kasuri methi. Continue cooking for another 30 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. If the keema is looser than you'd like, transfer to a frying pan and reduce over medium heat for a few minutes.
- Serve with rice, toast, pav, roti, or daqoos. Lemon wedges belong on the table, not in the pot.
Beef mince works if you don't have lamb.
Fresh spinach can replace frozen spinach.
Frozen peas are ideal because they hold their shape.
If using whole spices, lightly toast and grind them first. Whole cinnamon, black cardamom or star anise won't disappear into the gravy — remove them before serving.
The biggest challenge with this recipe is not actually making the keema. It's deciding what to eat it with. If your rice cooker is busy making keema, then it's not making rice. This is one of those moments where bread suddenly becomes very useful. Toast works. Store-bought roti prata works. Pav works. A spoon works.
The loomi powder isn't traditional, but I like the slight tang it brings. The mace isn't strictly necessary either, but it adds a warmth that works beautifully with the herbs. And honestly, if all you have are powdered spices, use powdered spices. The rice cooker is not judging you.
The long cooking time allows the onions, garlic, ginger and spices to completely dissolve into the sauce. The coriander, mint and spinach create a vibrant green gravy without needing endless stirring or monitoring.
The yogurt softens the herbs and adds richness. The peas add freshness and texture at the end so the dish doesn't feel too heavy. And because the rice cooker does most of the work, this is largely a hands-off recipe.
Usually with rice. Occasionally with toast. Sometimes standing in the kitchen with a spoon while deciding whether I can be bothered making anything else. And no, I can't be bothered to make anything else.
Honestly, not much. I might add a little more mint if I'm feeling particularly enthusiastic. Or I might do exactly what this recipe was designed for and throw everything into the rice cooker, walk away, and let future me deal with dinner.
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