We Can Always Count on Keema

I was about to go play a gig, and I didn't feel like cooking. But our local take-out options are so flimsy that I was forced into duty.

I went with trusty turkey keema, tonight served in tortillas, with thick and tangy tamarind sauce.

Hello, Beans

The noteworthy thing about tonight's turkey keema, besides the fact that we ate it with warm tortillas, which is pretty damn fun, is that the meal marked the emergence of our crop of long beans. That's right -- I was able to harvest five whole beans, and since those suckers really are very long (18 inches, I'd say), five was just about enough to get us our vegetables. They were so fresh that they only needed to be boiled for about a minute, and they stayed bright and crisp. As with our tomatoes, we were struck by the beans' clear, delicious flavor.

I can't stop fantasizing about having a huge vegetable garden. Maybe someday.

More Keema

It would be foolish not to make enough of this stuff to have leftovers.

Practice Makes Perfect

I never get tired of turkey keema (though Margy occasionally does, when she's eaten one batch four times). And it seems to get better each time I make it. With beans, along with the hot peppers and spices, it's almost like Indian turkey chili.

Indian Sloppy Joes

Just as I was about to light the charcoal in the grill to cook hamburgers, the sky suddenly darkened. Lightning flashed, and thunder clapped right nearby. I went back inside, and I took the charcoal with me. Moments later the sky opened up, and I was off to pick up an umbrella-less Margy from the train station. Hamburgers would wait for another day.

But...

Inspiration struck in addition to the lightning.

I wanted a sandwich, I knew that. With my trusty grill ten feet away in the rain, I wasn't about to broil or fry the burgers. I reserve that kind of desperation only for a February snowstorm, and even then I would probably either light the grill or make something else. So... what could I do with this ground beef? Suddenly cumin and coriander and onion and garlic started floating around my head, and I had it: I would make beef keema, I'd throw it on a roll, and we'd have Indian sloppy joes!

With so many terrific cooks and so much great food everywhere, I really don't want to brag, but the sandwiches were even better than I imagined. The fat from the beef along with a shot of tomato paste helped to create a wonderful texture, and the spices and seasonings were bright and vivid. I put the rolls under the broiler so they got crisp/soft. But the perfect final stroke was topping each sandwich with sliced cucumber. Now this conjured some magic. The cukes offered a welcome bit of crunch, and they had a cooling effect that played off the keema's spice beautifully. It was like having a built-in raita, minus the yogurt of course.

The rain poured down, and Margy forgot about her burgers.

Old Faithful

I like to make enough turkey keema for us to have a few lunches throughout the week, but last time I made so much that even Margy, great lover of leftovers, grew sick of it long before it was gone. So tonight I made half the amount. I hope it's enough...

Chutney Makes It Better

For this quick dinner of leftover turkey keema and cauliflower dum, I boiled a few green beans and tossed them in tamarind chutney while hot. We poured the chutney over the turkey and rice as well.

Too much is never enough.

Keema Improv

In Indian cooking, I believe the word keema refers to any dry-textured (not too saucy) dish made with ground meat. Which means the possibilities are endless. I've been making big batches of it with ground turkey, but tonight I tried it with beef.

I was still intent on cooking out of the pantry without making a trip to the market, and I had one more day before we needed indispensable items like milk and fresh vegetables. Poking around, I found a single hamburger in the freezer. A good start, but not enough to feed Margy and me. I looked in the cabinet and saw a can of chickpeas. Now I had my dish.

It was a snap: Add tomato paste to sautéed onion, garlic, ginger, and fresh chili (powdered cayenne or red pepper flakes would work just fine), mix in ground cumin and coriander, toss in a can of rinsed and drained chickpeas with a little water, crumble the hamburger on top, stir everything around until the beef is cooked and the beans are tender, and that's pretty much it. I found the keema holds together a bit better with beef, because it's fattier than turkey and the fat acts as a binder, but both versions are delicious.

Keema Again?

"Ta-ra-ki-ta, ta." --Ravi Shankar

We've been eating this all week. It is the stuff of paradise, this turkey keema.

But why the hell didn't I throw in some peas?