There's not much that can beat a delicious hot keema pulao! This traditional Pakistani rice pilaf is made with mincemeat and the finest Basmati rice. Different spices give it an unbeatable aroma and mouthwatering taste.
With my detailed recipe, you can learn to make this easy keema pulao in no time! I keep my recipes easy to follow, and the ingredient list won't make you rush to your grocery store! Whether you are a new cook, a student who lives alone and needs help in the kitchen, or a new couple, you can make my simple Keema pulao recipe!
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About Keema Pulao
Keema is mince meat in Urdu, and pulao is a rice dish such as the pilaf in many European and Asian countries. Basically, you make a layered rice and keema dish called keema pulao or keema biryani. You cook the keema with numerous spices and aromatics, then layer it with boiled long-grain Basmati rice.
It's an all-in-one dish and a complete meal: which means you can serve it on its own or with a salad or yogurt-based raita.
Here are some of my keema related recipes that you must try! Aloo keema, Kachay keeme ke kebab, and Keema naan, to name a few.
Reasons to love this recipe
- Keema Pulao is a delicious fusion of spicy, minced meat and fragrant, perfectly cooked rice. Combining hearty minced meat and aromatic rice means you will enjoy every bite.
- Looks can be deceiving! Although this recipe looks long, it is actually quite easy to make. It doesn’t require many steps, so beginners can easily make it.
- You can choose the type of ground meat you prefer: beef, chicken, or lamb. Furthermore, you can also adjust the spice levels to your liking by increasing or decreasing the amount of red chilli powder and green chillies.
- This dish is a crowd-pleaser, perfect for special occasions and gatherings. It doesn't just taste good, it looks beautiful too!
- Although it is a treat on its own, you can take it up a notch by serving it with chutney made from tomatoes, green chillies, and coriander leaves. This refreshing chutney adds an extra oomph to this delicious meal.
Ingredients
- Minced meat: You can choose the meat you like: beef, chicken, or lamb. Authentically, this dish tastes best with ground beef.
- Cooking Oil: Use a neutral oil such as canola so it doesn’t overpower the taste of the minced meat. If you want to give it an authentic touch, you could use Ghee to increase the taste and give it an unbeatable aroma.
- Onions: Onions make the masala base for the minced meat, so they are an essential ingredient.
- Red chilli powder: Adds a spicy kick to the keema.
- Salt: To taste.
- Ginger and garlic paste: Another key ingredient, this adds an earthy flavour and delicious aroma to the meat.
- Tomatoes: They add to the dense consistency of the masala and bring a subtle tanginess to the minced meat.
- Green chillies: The green chillies help increase the dish's spiciness and give it a lovely fragrance.
For Rice
- Basmati rice: For this pulao recipe, use high-quality, long-grained Basmati rice. The fluffy rice will give it an added bite and rich flavour.
- Black peppercorns: The peppercorns emit a mouthwatering flavour: don’t worry, they won’t increase the spice level.
- Cloves
- Black cardamom pods
- Bay leaf: This unique spice helps to give a very earthy and warm scent to the dish.
- Cinnamon sticks
- Salt to taste
- Food colour (for garnish): This is optional, but it makes the rice more colourful and appealing.
For quantities, please read the recipe card below.
Instructions
Making Keema:
- Heat a sturdy pan and add the cooking oil. Then add the finely sliced onions.
- Sauté the onions on medium heat until they turn a rich golden brown. This can take about 10-12 minutes. Patience here is key for achieving the desired flavor.
- Now, introduce the minced meat to the pan, stirring continuously. Cook until the meat changes color and loses its pinkness.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste and continue to stir, frying for a few minutes until it loses its raw smell and becomes slightly golden.
- Add the finely chopped tomatoes, salt, red chilli powder, and ½ cup of water to the pan. Cover the pan with a lid and allow it to simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
- Next, uncover the pan, add green chillies, stir the mixture, and mash the tomatoes while you continue to cook. Cook the masala until the oil separates from the masala. Once you observe this separation, remove it from the heat. The keema masala is ready.
Making Rice
- Wash the Basmati rice thoroughly until the water runs clear. Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes, then drain it.
- In a separate large pot, bring enough water to the boil so the rice will be well submerged. Add the whole black peppercorns, cloves, black cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and salt to season the water according to your taste.
- Once the water is boiling, add the drained rice and cook until it's about 70-80% done. It should still have a slight bite to it. Drain the rice through a strainer or colander.
Hint: Be careful when boiling rice. The water and the steam emerging from it, are both very hot!
Assembling
- Assembling the keema pulao involves making layers of the prepared keema masala and boiled rice. This leads to an even distribution of the keema and rice. So you get a bit of both in every bite!
- Next, in a heavy-bottomed pot, layer the partially cooked rice with the prepared minced meat. This is done by adding a layer of rice, followed by a layer of the keema mixture, and then another layer of rice. Use all the rice and keema while layering until none is left.
- Sprinkle the food colour evenly over the top for an appealing presentation.
- Place the pot on “dum,” which is a slow-cooking method. Cover it with a tight-fitting lid and cook on very low heat for about 10 minutes. This slow-cooking method allows the flavours to meld and the rice to absorb the flavours of the keema fully and become super fluffy and soft.
Making Chutney
- To prepare a refreshing chutney to complement the spicy pulao, blend a large tomato, 3-4 green chillies, and half a bunch of fresh coriander leaves with a small amount of water. Adjust the number of chillies based on your preferred level of heat.
Substitutions
- I always use beef keema for this pulao, but you can use either chicken or mutton/lamb keema if you prefer.
- You may use tinned or canned tomatoes if you don't have any fresh.
- Although Basmati is best for pulao, you can use other rice varieties. The cooking time will change.
Variations
You can add vegetables of your choice to this pulao. Some favorites are:
- Potatoes
- Peas
- Carrots
- Bell peppers/capsicum
Add the vegetables when the keema is almost done cooking, and cook further till they become tender.
Top Tips
Here are some pro tips to help you make the perfect Keema Pulao:
- Use the best quality ground meat, otherwise it will affect the taste.
- When you wash the rice, keep washing till the water runs clear.
- Always soak Basmati rice before cooking it.
- When you layer the rice and keema, start with the keema, then add a layer of rice. Try to keep the layers even.
- Cooking the rice on 'dum', which is the final step, is very important. It helps the flavours of the pulao to come together and fully cook the rice.
How to Serve Keema Pulao
This dish is a complete meal! You can eat it entirely on its own, and it will taste perfect. But, if you want to add an extra something, serve it with the chutney mentioned above or a cooling yoghurt, cucumber and mint raita. You can also add some fresh greens as a salad.
FAQ's
Keema Pulao is made with minced meat (keema) and Basmati rice. The minced meat is cooked with various spices and aromatics and then layered with boiled rice to create a flavorful rice pilaf.
The detailed steps for making Keema Pulao are provided in the article. It involves sautéing onions, cooking minced meat with spices, boiling rice with aromatic spices, and then layering the partially cooked rice with the prepared minced meat. The dish is then slow-cooked to allow flavors to meld.
"Keema" refers to minced meat in Urdu, and "pulao" is a rice dish. Keema Pulao is named so because it involves cooking minced meat with rice, creating a layered dish where the meat and rice are combined.
Keema Pulao ( Keema Biryani )
Ingredients
- 400 grams of minced meat beef, chicken, or lamb
- ½ cup of cooking oil
- 2 large onions finely sliced
- ½ tablespoon of red chili powder
- ½ tablespoon of salt adjust to taste
- 1 tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste
- 2 medium-sized tomatoes finely chopped
- 3 whole green chilies slit
For Rice
- 2 cups of high-quality Basmati rice
- 5-6 whole black peppercorns
- 4-5 cloves long
- 2 black cardamom pods
- 1 bay leaf
- 2-3 small pieces of cinnamon stick
- Salt to taste
- ¼ teaspoon of food color for garnish
Instructions
MAKING KEEMA:
- Heat a sturdy pan and add the cooking oil. Heat it up, and then add the finely sliced onions.
- Sauté the onions on medium heat until they turn a rich golden brown. This can take about 10-12 minutes. Patience here is key for achieving the desired flavour.
- Introduce the minced meat to the pan, stirring continuously. Cook until the meat changes colour and loses its pinkness.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste and continue to stir, frying for a few minutes until it loses its raw smell and becomes slightly golden.
- Add in the finely chopped tomatoes, salt, red chilli powder, and ½ cup of water to the pan. Cover the pan with a lid and allow it to simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
- Next, uncover the pan, add green chillies, stir the mixture, and mash the tomatoes while you continue to cook. The masala needs to be cooked until the oil separates from the masala. Once you observe this separation, remove it from the heat. The keema masala is done.
MAKING RICE
- Wash the Basmati rice thoroughly until the water runs clear. Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes, then drain it.
- In a separate large pot, bring enough water to the boil so that the rice will be well submerged in it. Add the whole black peppercorns, cloves, black cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and salt to season the water according to your taste.
- Once the water is boiling, add the drained rice and cook until it's about 70-80% done. It should still have a slight bite to it. Drain the rice through a strainer or colander. Be careful! The water is boiling, and the steam emerging from it is equally dangerous.
ASSEMBLING
- Assembling the keema pulao involves making layers of the prepared keema masala and boiled rice. This leads to an even distribution of the keema and rice. So you get a bit of both in every bite!
- In a heavy-bottomed pot, layer the partially cooked rice with the prepared minced meat. This is done by adding a layer of rice, followed by a layer of the keema mixture, and then another layer of rice. Continue this layering process until all the rice and keema are used up.
- Sprinkle the food colour evenly over the top for an appealing presentation.
- Place the pot on “dum,” which is a slow-cooking method. Cover it with a tight-fitting lid and let it cook on very low heat for about 10 minutes. This slow-cooking method allows the flavours to meld and the rice to absorb the flavours of the keema fully and become super fluffy and soft.
MAKING CHUTNEY
- To prepare a refreshing chutney to complement the spicy pulao, blend a large tomato, 3-4 green chillies, and half a bunch of fresh coriander leaves with a small amount of water. Adjust the number of chillies based on your preferred level of heat.
