What Can I Cook With Minced Meat (Keema)? 8 Dishes and Safe Handling

Why mince is the weeknight meat

Minced meat (keema) cooks in a fraction of the time that chunks of meat need. A curry made with 500 g (1.1 lb) of keema is done in under an hour, where mutton on the bone needs well over an hour. It also stretches: with potato, peppers or dough around it, one pack feeds four.

Below are eight dishes from our recipe library that use it, from a quick curry to kababs and stuffed breads. Amounts are in metric and US units on each recipe page.

Curries (40 to 50 minutes)

Aloo keema. 500 g (1.1 lb) of mince with 300 g (0.65 lb) of potato, two onions and two tomatoes. The onion is fried a shade darker than usual to deepen the colour of the whole curry, and the potato goes in a little later than usual so it does not turn mushy. At the end, the lid comes off for 2 to 3 minutes to dry the gravy down. 50 minutes, Medium.

Minced meat with bell peppers (shimla keema). The same 500 g (1.1 lb) of mince, with 2 bell peppers added right at the end and cooked only until just tender, with a little crunch left. It is the quickest of the curries at 40 minutes, Easy. The card says beef mince works as well as mutton, and to drain any extra fat before adding the tomato.

Kababs

Chapli kabab. 500 g (1.1 lb) of mince mixed with onion, tomato, coriander, green chilli, pomegranate seed powder, crushed coriander and cumin seeds, and 2 tablespoons of gram flour. Mix gently, only until combined, then rest it in the fridge 30 minutes. Divide into 8 and flatten each into a thin, wide patty about 10 to 12 cm (4 to 5 in) across, like a sandal sole, which is what chapli means. Fry 4 to 5 minutes per side in two batches. Keep the mince coarse for the traditional crumbly bite. About 65 minutes, Medium.

Seekh kabab. 500 g (1.1 lb) of mince with grated onion, ginger-garlic, spices and gram flour, kneaded firmly for 4 to 5 minutes until sticky, then chilled at least 45 minutes. Shape around flat skewers and grill 10 to 12 minutes, turning every 2 to 3 minutes. Squeeze the grated onion dry first, or the extra water makes the kababs slide off. Use mince with about 15 to 20 percent fat. Very lean beef turns dry. About 90 minutes in all, most of it chilling. Medium.

Stuffed and fried

Moglai porota. A Bangladeshi packet: 300 g (0.66 lb) of cooked mince mixed with beaten egg, onion, green chilli and coriander, folded inside a thin square of dough made with 300 g (2.4 cups) of flour and shallow-fried about 8 minutes. Seal the edges well, because any gap lets the egg leak into the oil. 50 minutes, Medium.

Mutabbaq. The Gulf version. 300 g (0.65 lb) of mince cooked with onion and baharat until dry, mixed with raw beaten egg and coriander, then folded into stretched dough and pan-fried about 6 minutes until golden. 50 minutes, Medium.

Sambousek. Small half-moon pastries. 250 g (0.55 lb) of browned mince with baharat and coriander, sealed into dough circles and deep-fried about 4 minutes. 55 minutes, Medium. Good for a crowd or a freezer batch, if you freeze them before frying.

Kibbeh. The hardest on the list: a shell of 200 g (1 cup) soaked bulgur and finely ground meat around a filling of coarser meat, onion and nuts, shaped into hollow torpedoes and deep-fried. It uses 600 g (1.35 lb) of mince, and takes about 80 minutes. Save it for a weekend.

Handling mince safely

Mince needs more care than a whole cut. Any bacteria on the surface of the meat gets mixed all the way through when it is ground.

• Cook it through. US guidance is 71 C (160 F) for ground beef, pork and lamb, and 74 C (165 F) for ground poultry. Our seekh kabab recipe uses 74 C (165 F), which is on the safe side. A thermometer is the reliable check, because colour alone can mislead. Without one, cut a kabab open: it should be steaming hot all the way through, with no pink and no raw-looking centre.
• Fridge life: raw mince keeps only one to two days. Buy it close to when you will cook it, or freeze it.
• Freezing: flatten it into a bag about 2 cm (3/4 inch) thick, press out the air, label it with the date, and lay it flat. It thaws faster and more evenly. Freeze raw patties or sausage-shaped kababs on a tray first, then bag them.
• Thaw in the fridge, not on the counter. A flat pack of 500 g usually thaws overnight.
• Leftovers: refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within three to four days. Reheat until steaming hot throughout.
• Do not wash raw mince. It spreads bacteria and does nothing useful.
• Wash your hands, boards and utensils after touching raw mince, before touching anything else.

Swaps

• Beef, mutton, goat or chicken mince? Aloo keema and shimla keema both work with beef or mutton mince, according to our recipe notes. We have not tested chicken mince, which is leaner and may dry out faster. Chicken mince should be cooked to 74 C (165 F).
• Fat matters in kababs. Lean mince makes dry kababs. If yours is lean, our seekh kabab recipe suggests working in a tablespoon of melted ghee or butter.
• No gram flour for kababs? We have not tested replacements. Chapli kabab elsewhere uses cornflour or an egg, but that is a regional variant, not our tested recipe.

Cook it with Degchi

Add keema to your Degchi pantry and the app shows which of these are cookable today. If you have potatoes as well, aloo keema comes to the top. Each recipe page has Have and Out markers, a servings scaler and step timers. The app is free and in closed beta; join the beta if you would like to try it.

Questions

Can I cook mince from frozen? For curry, you can start it from frozen in the pan, but it browns badly and is harder to cook evenly. We recommend thawing in the fridge first.

Why do my kababs fall apart? Usually the mix is too wet or too warm. Squeeze grated onion dry, knead until sticky, chill the mixture, and wet your hands before shaping.

How much mince per person? Our curry and kabab recipes use about 125 g (4.5 oz) per serving. The stuffed breads and pastries use less, 60 to 75 g (2 to 2.6 oz), because dough makes up much of the bite.

How long will cooked keema keep? Three to four days in the fridge, or up to a few months in the freezer. Aloo keema is a freezer-friendly dish, according to our recipe notes.