NEWS Keema and Pudina Paratha!

Divided by religion. United by food.

This, more than anything holds true the most for any Indian. We find stupid reasons to fight about, and smallest reasons to celebrate. Food is perhaps the ever on celebration in India.

I don’t care for the official stat, but if you ask me, I think the palate changes every 50 miles or so. Distinct flavours, methods and preferred masalas and meats keep changing with every hour of drive.

With Ramadan upon us, I thought of doing a twist on the traditional Keema so that it incorporates flavours across India, without losing its character. So I made what I like to call the NEWS (North East West South) Keema.

The intent is to use ingredients that are mostly used in cuisines of the 4 main regions. Having said that, I would also like to highlight the fact that while an ingredient may be representative of one region, it may also be very frequently used in other parts of the country. EG Mustard finds heavy use in North (Raniket side) as well as East (Bengal).

In my NEWS Keema I have used Tomatoes and Pudina Paratha as representative of the North; Mustard Oil for East; Coconut for West (mostly used in Konkan) ; and Curry leaves and Tamarind as representations from South. And since Keema is a dish of Persian origin, introduced in North India first, and quickly propagated to the rest of the country, I thought this would represent the perfect blend of all Indian cultures (or somewhat J )

The basic ingredients to use are:

•      200 gms Chicken Keema – I prefer buying ready to use, keema, rather than mincing myself as I don’t have the right temperament for mince meating :D
•      1 Tbsp Turmeric powder
•      1 Tbsp Coriander powder
•      2 finely chopped tomatoes
•      2 finely chopped onions
•      ½ cup plain yoghurt
•      50 gms Grated Coconut
•      Akkha (not powdered) Garam Masala:
•      2-3 bayleaves
•     1 in cinnamon stick
•     2-3 cloves
•     3 dried red chillies
•     2-3 cardamoms
•     1 tbsp Cumin seeds
•     1 tbsp Coriander seeds
•     Dry ginger
•    5-6 green chillies for chilly paste
•    Coriander for garnishing
•     Curry leaves
•     1 Tbsp Ginger garlic paste
•    ½ tbsp Tamarind juice
•    5-6 Tbsp mustard Oil 
•    Mint leaves for the parathas
•    Salt to Taste

Method:

1.       Marination

•     Now I like to find shortcuts where ever possible. But in some cases shortcuts just don’t work. Marination is one such activity where no shortcuts work.
•     Take the keema; add salt, turmeric, pinch of coriander powder, yoghurt. Mix very well! Nothing mixes better than your hands. So use them!
•     Keep aside for 1 hour (at least)
•     Separately, also add 2-3 drops of tamarind juice to the diced onions, and keep aside.

2.       The base – so as to say

•     In a flat pan, heat the oil. Test the heat by dropping in a grain of cumin. If it crackles, the oil is ready.
•     All the Garam masalas in and let them crackle on a medium flame.
•     Add the diced onions and sauté till they are nicely goldenish, but not burnt.
•     Add the diced tomatoes to the above and let is cook till you see a sort of paste like consistency.
•     Add the ginger garlic paste.
•     Add red chili powder, remainder of the coriander powder. You may also taste for salt. Mix well.
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3.       Chili paste

•      Slide the chillies finely
•      Blend in a coffee grinder or the old fashion way using mortar and pestle.
•      Add salt.
•      Taste if you dare!

4.       The dish!

•      To the paste prepared in step 2, add the keema marinated in step 1.
•      Mix well, to ensure the flavour propagates throughout the meat.
•      Add grated coconut to the above blend.

•      Add 5-6 curry leaves
•      Add the green chilli paste to the above. You can vary the quantity of the paste depending on the level of you spice you can accommodate.
•      Mix well, and cover the pan and cook on low – medium flame.
•      In 5 minutes time, a lot of water (from the steam due to the covered pan) will have condensed back into the pan. Mix it well, since it has a lot of flavours from the marinated meat and all the other ingredients.
•      You can now cook in the open pan. Keep stirring the keema so that it doesn’t stick to the pan.
•      Garnish with coriander.
•      Serve hot with Rice of Pudina Paratha or pav!

5.       Pudina Parathas

•      These are not too difficult to make if you know how to make normal parathas.
•      Just add diced pudina leaves to the dough while preparing it.
•      Keep the dough wrapped up in a slight wet muslin or similar cloth so that it remains fresh while the keema cooks and the parathas are soft.
•     Method of cooking is the same as other parathas

Serve hot with the pudina parathas or even Pav! Enjoy! 

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