Kheema Palak ~ Ground Meat & Spinach Fry

Spinach is one of very few vegetables that we both like and I cook it at least once a week. I usually stir fry spinach, just like the green chard fry that I blogged about a while back. Sometimes, I also make spinach raita. But the last time I cooked spinach, I added some kheema to it. Ground meat is called kheema, both in hindi and in telugu, and it is traditionally either goat or lamb meat. I had a packet of palak or spinach in the crisper and had to use it the same day. That day, I had some left over rasam and the other dish had to be a non vegetarian dish. All I had was some cooked kheema in the freezer. Since I wanted to cook spinach as well, sparing it the agony of spending rest of its life in a trash can, I made Kheema Palak.

I buy my goat meat from a Pakistani store in Jackson Heights. They trim as much fat as possible, cut the meat into small cubes or mince the meat, as per our request. The meat from this store usually tastes very good and I always buy it from them. I tried couple of other butcher stores near by and did not like their goat meat. I rarely get my goat/lamb meat from the regular super markets, as the meat from these super markets is very fatty. Whenever I do my Indian groceries in Jackson Heights, I also buy some goat meat. I usually buy in bulk and freeze the raw meat. However, I cook Kheema with some salt, chili powder ginger garlic paste and some oil and then freeze it in small containers. Whenever I need to make kheema curry or biryani, all I need to do is thaw it overnight in the fridge or pull it straight out of the freezer and microwave it for few minutes to thaw. In another 15 minutes, my curry is done.

Cooking Time: 15 minutes (excludes cooking time of kheema)
Serves: 2-3

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

3 tablespoon Oil
2 Cardamom
2 Cloves
½ teaspoon Saha Jeera
1 small Onion Chopped
¼ - ½ teaspoon Fenugreek Powder (opt)
1 - 2 teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste
2 teaspoon Coriander Powder
1 ½ teaspoon Chili Powder (adjust to taste)
½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
Salt to Taste
2 cups or approx. 1 lb cooked Ground Goat Meat
1 6 oz or 170 gms Packet Baby Spinach Chopped (can use bunch spinach)
Cilantro to Garnish

Preparation:

Heat oil in a pan, add cardamom, cloves and saha jeera. Add onions, fenugreek powder and saute until onions are translucent.
Add ginger garlic paste and continue to saute until the rawness of ginger garlic is gone.
Add coriander, turmeric, chili powder and salt. Mix well.
Add ground kheema and cook for 2-3 minutes or until most of the liquid is evaporated. If using raw meat, wash and add the kheema and mix well. cover and cook for approx. 10-15 minutes until the kheema is cooked. Also adjust the chili powder and salt.
Add Spinach, mix well, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes until spinach withers and is cooked.
Remove the cover and continue to cook until all the liquid is gone. Or until it is done.
Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice or roties.