You know, the last few weeks have been packed with new challenges and I had to cut down on my cooking letting Philipp be the chef cook for that time. So over the weekend when it felt just long enough for me to stay out of the kitchen, I took over. And it felt so good to be back. I thought after all that time I should make something a little bit more fancy. You know, for all that trouble and effort of the last days.

I did a little inventory check of my fridge and since we felt like having something indian that evening, I decided to go for a curry. I consulted my cookbook and since I was feeling a little bit adventurous I decided to try one I didn’t know, keema matar, which is a minced meat and peas curry. I tried keema before, but this recipe called for a very different way of cooking than I know. Nonetheless it turned out to be soo good! I paired it with homemade flatbread from Nicolas’ blog, simply because ever since we tried it, it became unthinkable to cook indian food without it.

KEEMA MATAR

preparation time: 30 min                                                  cooking time: 45min

500g minced meat

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp curcuma

1 onion

fresh ginger

250ml joghurt

125g ghee or olive oil

250g peas

1 green chili

1 tsp garam masala

2 tbsp lime juice

fresh coriander

salt

HOMEMADE FLATBREAD

preparation time: 15min

cooking time: 10min

255 g of self raising flour and extra for dusting

1 tablespoon of water

235 g of natural yoghurt

1 tablespoon of dried herbs of your choosing

1 teaspoon of olive oil

A generous pinch of salt

Knead the minced meat and season with salt, cayenne pepper, coriander and cumin, turmeric. Add finely chopped onions and ginger. Mix in the jogurth and move to a shallow bowl. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan over medium heat and fry the meat for 5-8 minutes until the liquid has evaporated. Add 500 ml of water and simmer the meat until it is cooked.

Add the peas and green chili peppers and simmer until the liquid is reduced to a half. Sprinkle with garam masala and coriander and drizzle with lime juice.

Serve hot with rice and flatbread.

FOR THE FLATBREAD

Put all the measured out ingredients in a bowl and combine until a dough is formed. Use your hands to knead a smooth dough and once this happens, move to a clean, lightly floured, surface. The dough should have the right consistency, be elastic and not stick to your hands. If your dough is too sticky, add a little bit of flour, if it’s too dry add a spash of water.

Cut the dough into 6 even pieces. One by one, knead them and using a rolling pin roll them to a few milimeters thick sheets. Heat a non-stick pan and toast the bread for 2 minutes from each side, until lightly browned and cooked through.

Serve hot with curry.