This is definitely not a Valentine’s Day dish. It’s not special and it’s completely and utterly pedestrian, at least in Pakistani households. Regardless, I wanted to share it with you today because it’s the first dish I ever cooked for my husband. Way back when, five years ago, in April, I met my husband through my sister. She met him and put him in touch with me, he was in grad school in Toronto and I was in grad school in Montreal and in my sister’s mind that was enough reason for us to get along. We started talking and then one day on a whim he decided to visit me in Montreal. As you can imagine, I was nervous. In our conversations I told him I enjoyed cooking, though at the time I didn’t do much being a busy grad student. So when he arrived and when we got over the initial awkwardness we both went grocery shopping together.
It’s not exactly the first date most of us imagine, but that is what happened with us. The premise of the grocery shopping was that I would cook lunch for us. I had no clue what to make, we were wandering through the aisles and I said that I would make keema (ground beef). It was a dish I was comfortable making and my now husband was pretty laid back about the whole thing. He told me he liked it with green bell peppers, in my mind I thought, “ew,” but I put some green bell peppers into our cart and also picked up some spinach to make aloo palak, a dish I had never made before. Back then, I was polite and didn’t say anything about the bell peppers, if it was today, it would be an entirely different story.
We got back to my apartment and I started cooking in my tiny kitchen with very little proper kitchen equipment. We began talking and pretty soon we were more comfortable and it felt as though we knew each other for ages. I made the keema, aloo palak (it turned out good), basmati rice, salad, and chutney. My husband stuck with me after that meal and it’s safe to say he was a fan of my cooking. After eating lunch we explored Montreal, which in of itself is a very romantic city, and then later had some late night bites at a restaurant, a “proper” date, if you will.
My husband’s favorite Pakistani dish besides channay is keema. I don’t know if he liked it before or if his love for it blossomed after I made it that first time. He now requests it on a weekly basis. He was just away for three weeks on medical residency interviews and whenever he would get a few days in the middle to come home, he would ask me to make aloo keema. Luckily for me it’s an easy dish and I also enjoy it.
I know this isn’t a gorgeous Valentine’s dessert of gooey chocolate, but it is one of “our” dishes. Since my husband and I consider food a big part of what we have in common, it doesn’t matter if it’s simple Pakistani home cooking or some form of haute cuisine, we always enjoy it in each other’s company. Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
Aloo Keema
serves 3 as a main, 4 if served with a side dish
Ingredients
Canola oil, or any neutral vegetable oil
1 pound ground beef (chicken, lamb, goat) It’s also up to you if you want to use lean or not. I like to wash and drain it in a colander.
1 red onion, thinly sliced into half moons
2 heaping tablespoons ginger-garlic paste (2 inch piece of ginger and 5-6 cloves of garlic blended together with a little water)
1 potato, peeled and cut into large chunks (you can also use peas, peppers, cauliflower, or any vegetable you choose, just adjust cooking times)
2 tomatoes, puréed (canned are alright, if they are out of season)
1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon red chili powder/cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
3-4 whole black peppercorns
2 cloves
2-3 green chilies, julienned, seeds removed if you like
nice handful of cilantro, chopped
3 scallions, chopped, optional
garam masala, optional
limes, for garnish, optional
Method
Heat a large saucepan on medium heat and add in some oil, to your taste. Let the oil heat up and add the onions and fry them for a few minutes until they start to almost turn light golden brown.
Add in the meat and ginger-garlic paste and keep stirring it until the ground beef is all broken up and in very small pieces. Once the meat is slightly browned add in all the spices except the garam masala and keep mixing until everything is combined and the rawness is cooked out the spices.
Next, add in the tomato purée and mix it into the meat. I also add in half a cup of water at this point. Lower the heat to medium low and cover the pan and allow it to cook for 15 minutes or so.
After fifteen minutes, check the meat and mix it. Cover and let it cook for fifteen more minutes. After fifteen minutes, add in the potatoes and mix everything together a few times. You should no longer see individual pieces of onion (it should have melted into the “masala,” and the oil should start to separate from the meat. If necessary, add a little water (1/4 cup) to help the potatoes cook.
Once the potatoes are cooked, add in the green chilies, cilantro, scallions, and a sprinkling of garam masala and cook for another few minutes. Serve with rice, chapati/roti, or naan and green chutney, limes, spicy pickles (achaar), and salad.
*Leftovers taste even better!
nadia- what a lovely story. and i really love the photos , keem is such a difficult thing to photograph, and youve done it so beautifully! happy valentine’s day! xo shayma
Awwww!!!! I didnt know about this whole grocery shopping date!!! CUTE!! I love you guys!!
Ps i like keema with bell peppers…what’s wrong with that???? :$
Nadia, it was so nice to learn how your relationship with your hubby began. I love that food was a big part of it. Thanks for sharing the story.
Now this dish, I love using ground meat as a main course and I grew up with something similar but 1) I’ll have to try this version that is so rich with colorful spices (and I keep them all in stock!) and 2) I’ve never been successful at making my version look this appealing.
I think it’s perfect for Valentine’s Day. 🙂
Agree with Shayma, what a sweet story. Keema might seem pedestrian to some, but the fragrant spices make it anything-but to a lot of folks. I have some ground turkey in the fridge. . . might just have to make this ASAP.
Had a giggle at the part about you “being polite” about the bell peppers and how today, that’d not be the case 😉 Refreshingly honest, and funny.
Happy Valentine’s Day, dear! Xoxo.
aaww what a sweet story about your first date…I can’t believe you cooked for him on the first date! 🙂 Alloo Keema looks delish and is such a comfort food! Very nice pics!
Happy Valentines Day Sweetie! xo
Hey if you were able to cook for him on the first date and you liked his looks, what else is there? Good conversation and it is a wrap. At the altar!
Joking aside, the story is lovely and the dish too~ I think most of us prefer the simple dishes of our childhood the best!
Great story!!
It may not be chocolate or sweets but you made your husbands favorite meal. In my book, that is as romantic as it gets. I think my husband would like it too!
This looks like the most amazing comfort food! I love your recipes — so interesting and flavorful!
How sweet that you and your hubby went food shopping on your first date! I think it’s wonderful that you have food as a common interest. I can’t say that Ali and I are really that into food – maybe this is because I can’t make anything worth eating??
Do you think the keema would be as good with turkey instead of beef? I would love to try this but Ali is “watching his cholesterol” these days. This means he indulges in everything except red meat. Go figure!
Happy Valentine’s Day Nadia!
Thankssss, Ameena. Hope your V-Day was fun! Personally, I don’t love turkey but if you like it, use it. I would use ground chicken over turkey. I don’t know if you buy your meat from a desi store, their ground chicken is usually off, I would get if from a regular grocery store. 🙂
I actually think this is quite beautiful…even more beautiful when I hear the story behind it. I love hearing about how/when couples met. Thank you for sharing with me tonight. Hugs and well wishes from Austin! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Love it and love your story. Happy valentines!!
Love the story of your first ‘date’. I’ll be watching your blog! 🙂
Hey Nadia,
This is the first time I read your blog, even though I have subscribed to it for the longest time! I really enjoyed the Alloo Keema story. And I must say, the dish never looked so presentable and yummy before!
The recipe is the same as i make it, with the exception of adding Cumin Powder.. I will try it with that next time.
All the best!
awwwww this is a really cute post. All thanks to me for introducing you both 😀
and you both being in Canada was NOT the only reason why – I had a feeeeeling
my god, this is probably the most cute V-day story I’ve ever read 🙂 The one without fancy ribbons and bows and bit more of practicality is true life reflection.
And aloo keema’s my fave too ❤
What a cute story!! This dish looks fantastic.
This looks great!! I love all the spices in the dish, and your photographs looks wonderful 🙂
Favorite Family dish:)
I always ask mom to make me aloo keema whenever I come home after a long time 😀
I didn’t know you liked aaloo keema! WOW!
i was waiting patiently for the latest recipe to be posted, specially the beautiful pictures as usual.
Nice cooking and photography again…….
Keema Mattar with aloo is a great combination. Tastes excellent.
For me just the story alone makes this dish a Valentines Dish!
Beautiful Dish Nadia…I was waiting for it since I saw your twitpic.Potatoes are always a great addition to meats particularly red meats.I miss making keema-matar so much too..as you knw we dont get good mutton here…mince is a far fetched thing 🙂
Good food and good memories that you have shared in the post is what makes it a valentine meal.I love your yellow bowl.
What a sweet story, I think shopping together is very romantic 🙂 I love all of these gorgeous spices and hope you had a wonderful valentines day
🙂 after reading your romantic story, this definitely is a Valentine’s Day dish! Love aloo keema! and really funny about the bell peppers. i have never used bell pepper in aloo keema.
Grocery shopping and cooking after is my kinda first date! We had our first one at a dirty coffee shop with a guy mopping around us and peeking while we were trying to drink coffee 😉
Keema’s one of our family favorites too! Love the recipe!
Hee hee that is such a cute first date nadia!! I am sure after he tasted your food he made a mental note to NEVER let you go 🙂 My mom always said the fastest way to a man’s heart is his belly…your Aloo Keema looks delicious, the spices are absolutely wonderful!!
[…] more periods before I get to go home for the day and get started on re-arranging my bedroom, making Aloo Keema for dinner before the cilantro wilts pathetically in the fridge and Rich yells at me for the […]
A dish doesn’t have to be sophisticated to qualify as V-Day material. It looks utterly delicious.
Hope you’re doing great, Nadia!
Thanks to everyone for the lovely comments and I hope you get a chance to try out the dish and feel free to contact me with any questions! -Nadia
Great memories! Everytime we go to MTL I am reminded of our first ‘lunch’ together. YAY for aaloo keema and my eternal pedestrian-ness!
[…] Aloo Keema: Spicy Ground Beef with Potatoes (fortheloveofyum.wordpress.com) […]
nice one but did u get pulled later after having aloo kheema?
[…] Spicy Ground Beef with Potatoes (from For the Love of Yum) […]
I just made this tonight and it was delicious. Easy, too. Thanks for the recipe.
I just stumbled across your recipe (googled “spicy ground beef”) and had no idea how much I missed aloo kheema until I read your post! I think this is exactly what I want for supper! Thank you!
I just made this tonight! Thank you for a fab recipe! I didn’t have everything on hand (Scallions and cilantro), but I got by with what I did have and it was delicious! This will definitely be a repeat recipe!
This was divine! Made this a few days ago and my sisters are still raving about it! Thanks a lot!
yayyyy I’m glad it turned out good!
Oooh, I stumbled on your blog after searching for an “Aloo Keema” recipe. This is also one of my husbands favourite thing to eat! We recently got married and I’ll be attempting to make this tonight. Dun dun dun!
Thank you for sharing your recipe – can’t wait to try it out!
~ Shaza ~
good luck! let me know how it turns out!
Amazing!! This looks great.. and Indian spices will make it really spicy beef recipes, I have tried till date. O.o
I guess i just need to make few changes here and there and i will be way to go. Thanks for the recipe. I was planning to make few sandwiches out of it! YUM.. 🙂