Triumph of mutton kheema, the ‘national dish’ of our home

Many, many moons ago, as we gathered at the table for dinner, my 12-year-old brother looked at the steaming hot mutton kheema and casually declared: “This is the national dish of our home.” Grandly, I told him that ‘national dishes’ were of nations, not of homes. But even then, I had understood what he meant. The mutton kheema really was the ‘national dish’ of our family. It was prepared at least twice a week.

The Urdu word kheema comes from the Turkic word qiyma meaning ‘minced meat’. It could also have come from the Farsi word qeyme, which also means minced meat.

It was my job as a boy to head to the butcher’s to get kheema and other meat items for the family. There, I would be faced with two choices: Hand chopped (therefore not very finely ground) or minced in the grinder. My instructions from home were almost always to get hand-chopped kheema. But on many occasions, I would opt for the grinder simply because waiting at the mutton stall bored me to tears.

There are, of course, endless ways of preparing this versatile dish. But in our house, and in the homes of our relatives, there was only one: minced mutton was cooked with spices, chopped potatoes and either beans or peas. It was consumed with whole wheat roti (no maida nonsense back then) or rice. Either ways, it was a delicious recipe, especially after we had added a spoonful of Amul butter on top of it.

Click here for Gulf News Food Editor's recipe for One-pot Indian Mutton Kheema with potatoes and garden peas.

On occasions, the same kheema preparations would also be used to make samosas. But, despite the fact that it was delicious, I had an aversion to it because homemade samosas lacked that perfect, crispy triangular shape (no ready-made ‘samosa leaves’ in supermarkets back then either).

During Ramadan suhours, the battle for supremacy was between nihari and kheema. My mum would often alternate between the two. The primary reason was both of these were nutritious, filling delicacies - which kept us going for the next 14 hours.

Over the years, I have had kheema in numerous places, done in various ways. Some of them, especially a ‘dum ka kheema’ at a Hyderabadi restaurant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was actually better than the one we had at home. But, as far as I am concerned, there is only one ‘national dish’.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4

500gms mutton, minced

1 big onion, sliced

2 tsp ginger-garlic paste, equal measures

2 tsp red chilly powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp turmeric

3 potatoes, diced

200gms beans, finely cut

3 large tomatoes, chopped

3 green chillies, cut

Cooking oil

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry sliced onion until golden brown.

Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for a while and then add minced meat. Cook on high flame until water separates. Now lower the flame, and add red chilly powder, turmeric, chopped tomatoes and cook until the oil separates.

Add beans, green chillies and potatoes, mix well. Add a cup of water and pressure cook. Put off the flame after 1 to 2 whistles. Cook until the oil separates. Garnish with sliced onion and coriander.

Recipe courtesy: Tahera Shariff. She is a homemaker and retired Bangalore-based banker.

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