Keema Karela Recipe: Minced Meat Curry With Bitter Gourd

Name: Keema Karela Recipe: Minced Meat Curry With Bitter Gourd
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6 serving
Ingredients: 17.63 ounces ground meat/ minced meat; 17.83 - 21.16 ounces Karela/ bitter gourd; 5.29 ounces brown onions; 4 garlic cloves; ½ inch ginger; ½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds; ½ teaspoon Kalonji/ black seeds/ Nigella Sativa; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1 teaspoon ground coriander; ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder; 1 teaspoon kashmiri red chilli powder; ½ teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 medium tomatoes; ⅓ cup cooking oil; ⅓ cup water; cilantro/ coriander leaves

User Reviews

5.0

3 reviews

Excellent

Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
1 hr
Servings
6
Calories
382 kcal
Course
Main Course
Cuisine
Pakistani

Keema Karela Recipe: Minced Meat Curry With Bitter Gourd

Liam Rios

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Keema Karela offers deliciously rich minced meat curry with a slightly bitter karela. A curry dish that can be enjoyed with naan bread or roti/ chapati as a dry-curry, or with plain rice as a luscious curry with gravy.

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Ingredients

Servings

17.63 ounces ground meat/ minced meat see the note.
17.83 - 21.16 ounces Karela/ bitter gourd.
5.29 ounces brown onions 2 medium-sized. Sliced.
4 garlic cloves minced.
½ inch ginger minced.
½ teaspoon whole cumin seeds.
½ teaspoon Kalonji/ black seeds/ Nigella Sativa optional (see the note).
1 teaspoon ground cumin.
1 teaspoon ground coriander.
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder.
1 teaspoon kashmiri red chilli powder see the note.
½ teaspoon ground black pepper.
1 teaspoon salt or according to taste. And extra for rinsing the karela.
2 medium tomatoes chopped (see the note).
⅓ cup cooking oil.
⅓ cup water.
cilantro/ coriander leaves chopped (optional).

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Instructions

Cut the karela/ bitter gourd lengthwise but not through to split in two. Open it and scoop the seeds out using a teaspoon. Then slice the karela into 0.5 cm/0.19-inch thickness.
Place the sliced karela in a mixing bowl and put a teaspoon of salt all over the slices. Set aside for about 10 minutes or so. Then rinse the bitter gourd under running water as you rub it off. You will feel that the outer skin of bitter gourd becomes softened a bit. Squeeze the bitter gourd to rid of the water as much as you can without breaking the karela.
Spread the karela on a large frying pan and start to pan roast it until the bitter gourd is softened with light golden and brown roasting colour all over it. Set aside.
On a cooking pan, heat the oil and fry the sliced onions with the whole cumin seeds and black seeds (Kalonji/ Nigella Sativa).
When the onions become translucent, put the minced meat in and continue frying until the meat brown.
Add in the minced ginger-garlic, ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric powder, chilli powder, ground black pepper and salt. Cook further until the spices release aroma.
Then add the chopped tomatoes to the meat mixture. Give it a stir and let it cook with the lid on at medium heat for about 10-15 minutes until the meat is tender.
Lastly, put the roasted karela into the meat and add ⅓ cup of water then mix well. Continue cooking for about 15-20 minutes with the lid on. You can see a little bit of oil separated from the gravy when your keema karela is ready. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Notes

You can use any ground meat/ minced meat you like. Though lamb mince or beef mince is probably the most popular option.
Recently I like to put a little bit of Kalonji in my Pakistani food cooking. Because these little black seeds offer amazing goodness for our health. But you don’t have to worry about this if you don’t have the seeds. You can simply omit the seeds.
I love Kashmiri red chilli powder. Because it has a unique fragrance and a more vibrant colour. But you can use the regular red chilli powder. And if you want your keema karela to be milder, you can swap the chilli powder with paprika powder.
When it comes to tomatoes, you can use fresh tomatoes as my recipe suggests or tinned/ canned tomatoes. If you use the latter one, ⅓ cup/ 80 ml/ 2.82 fl. oz canned/ tinned tomatoes are more than enough for this recipe.

Nutrition Information

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Serving 1g Calories 382kcal (19%) Carbohydrates 10g (3%) Protein 29g (58%) Fat 25g (38%) Saturated Fat 7g (35%) Polyunsaturated Fat 15g Trans Fat 1g Cholesterol 91mg (30%) Sodium 499mg (21%) Fiber 3g (12%) Sugar 4g (8%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 6Serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories 382 kcal

% Daily Value*

Serving	1g
Calories	382kcal	19%
Carbohydrates	10g	3%
Protein	29g	58%
Fat	25g	38%
Saturated Fat	7g	35%
Polyunsaturated Fat	15g	88%
Trans Fat	1g	50%
Cholesterol	91mg	30%
Sodium	499mg	21%
Fiber	3g	12%
Sugar	4g	8%