This is an authentic Indian curried beef mince recipe called Qeema (or keema or kheema). It’s a gem of a find because it tastes incredible but unlike many Indian dishes, there are no hard-to-find spices in the ingredients. And it’s super fast – on the table in 20 minutes!
Qeema – Quick & Easy Indian Curried Beef Mince
This recipe is an excellent way to get an Indian food fix without having to hunt down hard-to-find Indian spices.
It’s also an excellent way to change up your usual rotation of beef mince recipes. Spag Bol, we love you, but sometimes it’s nice to try something new!!
And new this is. You probably haven’t seen Qeema on Indian restaurant menus because it’s a home cooking meal. But blimey, it’s a great find! 100% legit Indian flavours, 7 minute prep, 13 minute cook. Get all the spices from regular grocery stores – turmeric, garam masala, cumin, coriander and cayenne pepper.
What you need for Qeema
The key to achieving the bold, authentic Indian curried beef flavour in this quick ‘n easy recipe is a good amount of fresh garlic and ginger, and a generous amount of ground spices.
Here’s what you need:
Beef mince – That’s ground beef to those of you in the States! I’m using lean today, but regular is fine (fattier – juicier). I also made this recipe a few years ago using chicken mince which was terrific.
Fresh garlic and ginger – Key to flavour in this otherwise simple Indian dish, so don’t skip these.
Spices – Garam masala, cumin, coriander, turmeric and cayenne pepper. You can get all these at regular grocery stores here in Australia. Garam masala is an Indian spice mix which I tell people is the “better curry powder” because it tastes more legit, whereas the curry powders you get at regular grocery stores are very Westernised.
Fresh coriander/cilantro for garnish. (Skip if you’re not a coriander fan).
Green cayenne pepper (optional garnish) – This is for garnish, and it adds fresh chilli flavour without much spiciness because cayenne peppers are not that spicy. But it’s entirely optional, so feel free to omit!
How to make Qeema
Sauté – Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Add ginger and garlic and saute for 30 seconds until golden, don’t let it burn! Add onion and cook for 1 minute until it is starting to turn translucent.
Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until it changes from pink to light brown. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT water. Cook for a further 2 minutes to let the spices bloom.
Cook 10 minutes – Add water, give it a stir, then put a lid on (or cover with a baking tray if you don’t have a lid for your pan). Turn heat down to medium and let it simmer for 10 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated, but still a bit juicy.
Serve over with basmati rice or plain white rice, garnished with extra chilli and coriander/cilantro, and lots of Mint Yogurt. Naan or flatbreads would make it even better, though if time is not your friend, try frozen roti (pictured in post, more on this below the photo).
What to serve with Qeema
Serve over basmati rice and mint yogurt or plain yogurt (recipe below for mint yogurt). Then mix up the beef into the rice so it flavours the rice, then dig in!
It’s also pictured above with flaky, buttery roti which I stuffed with the Qeema and rice. Not homemade. I always have a stash of frozen ones which you can get at regular grocery stores. I love them because they can be cooked from frozen in a few minutes – how good is that! Ideal to use for any and all Indian / South East Asian saucy foods, like curries.
Though, if I have the time (or foresight to plan in advance), you can’t beat homemade naan. 😊
For vegetable sides, try one of these:
Indian Tomato Salad with Mint Raita Dressing
South Indian Carrot & Cabbage Salad with Coconut is fresh and popping with flavours – love the coconut flavour in this!
Give this Everyday Cabbage Salad an Indian spin by sautéing garlic and cumin seeds in oil before mixing up with other Dressing ingredients.
I really hope you try this Qeema recipe, the flavour is so authentic! Something a little different to make with that packet of beef mince you threw in your shopping trolley on the weekend. – Nagi x
recipe credit
This Qeema recipe is very slightly adapted from this Authentic Indian Minced Meat Qeema recipe from Scrambled Chefs. I just spied a 5 Ingredient Indian Potato Curry and this Chicken Curry has just jumped to the top of my Must Try list!
Watch how to make it
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Qeema Indian Curried Beef
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable or canola oil , or other neutral oil
- 4 tsp ginger , finely mince
- 5 large garlic cloves , minced (about 4 tsp)
- 1 large onion , finely diced
- 500g / 1 lb beef mince (ground beef)
- 3/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper or chilli powder (pure, not US chili powder spice mix), omit for not spicy
- 1 1/4 tsp garam masala (Note 1)
- 1 1/4 tsp cumin powder
- 1 1/4 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 cup water
Garnish
- 1 green cayenne pepper , deseeded, finely sliced
- Cilantro/coriander leaves
- Plain yogurt or Mint yogurt (below)
Mint yogurt (optional, pictured in post)
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup (lightly packed) mint leaves
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
Instructions
- Sauté – Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Add ginger and garlic and saute for 30 seconds until golden, don't let it burn! Add onion and cook for 1 minute until it is starting to turn translucent.
- Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until it changes from pink to light brown. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT water. Cook for a further 2 minutes to let the spices bloom.
- Cook 10 minutes – Add water, give it a stir, then put a lid on (or cover with a baking tray). Turn heat down to medium and let it simmer for 10 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated.
- Serve over with basmati rice or plain white rice, garnished with extra chilli and coriander/cilantro, and lots of Mint Yogurt. Naan or flatbreads would make it even better, though if time is not your friend, try frozen roti (pictured in post, Note 3).
Mint yogurt
- Blitz then stir – Put just 1/4 cup of the yogurt with the mint leaves and salt in a jug just big enough to fit the head of a stick blender. Blitz until mint is very finely chopped. Then stir in remaining yogurt. (Note 4) Refrigerate until required.
Recipe Notes:
1. American “Chili Powder” is not pure ground chilli, it contains other spices like paprika and is not very spicy. This recipe calls for pure ground chilli for spiciness, or cayenne pepper. 2. Garam Masala – Spice mix used in Indian cooking, a more legit curry powder. Sold at regular grocery stores in Australia -> Coles, Woolworths, Harris Farms. 3. Roti – Flaky Indian round flatbread that’s sold in the freezer section of large grocery stores these days. Love them because they’re so handy – cook from frozen on the stove in just a couple of minutes. Cheap, tasty, if you’ve never tried it, it’s a game changer! 🙂 4. Mint yogurt – Blitzing makes yogurt watery. So just blitz the minimum to puree the mint, then stir the rest in which thickens the sauce up again. 5. Leftovers keep for 3 – 4 days in the fridge, or freezer for 3 months. Nutrition for beef only, not including rice or yogurt sauce.
Nutrition Information:
First published April 2016. Republished 7 years later with sparkling new photos, brand new recipe video (couldn’t make them back then!) and of course added a Life of Dozer section!
My easiest Indian recipes
More easy Indian recipes!
Life of Dozer
He doesn’t realise it’s a vegetable platter. (Yet).
We’re in the same zone! Sounds super easy and I trust you when you say its ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!
Kevin, it totally blew my mind. Seriously!
This looks delicious & I love that I have all the spices in my pantry 🙂 I love Indian food, too! Yum!!
Thanks Dawn! That’s exactly what I love about this recipe too!!! 🙂
I love this! I always shy away from cooking Indian food because it seems like it should be so complicated, but now I really want to try this recipe out! Thanks so much for sharing, Nagi! 🙂
I know what you mean Sam!! I’m with you 🙂
How spicy is this? Would it be possible to cook rice in the dish with the meat?
Thanks!
Anisah
Hi Anisah! it’s not too spicy, but you can just use less chilli and/or chilli flakes. Just amend it to your taste! I don’t recommend cooking the rice IN the same pot for this recipe, it needs more spices. HOWEVER…..you have given me an idea for another recipe….One Pot Biryani??? Hmmmm…..
Nagi, immediately I saw this I quickly dropped everything and headed over here. Just made curry shrimp this weekend.
Yes, you know me I LOVE curry! Always looking for new ways to mix it up…. You’ve got me here! Something new yet right up my alley. Am IN LOVE.
I KNEW you would appreciate this one Imma!!! 🙂 I have to come over and check out what you’ve been doing lately, it’s been too long!! N x
I am so glad I met you!! Not only have you taught me zillions of things about photography but also about lots of different dishes I wouldn’t have normally tried. This looks delicious and your flatbread would be perfect with it. Yep!! I would go to the effort to make the flatbread, after all we make our own pitas 🙂 Great shots of the dish too. xxxooo
Oooh! I bet you make killer pitas!!!
I usually don’t like ground beef (I think one too many Hamburger Helpers as a child made me dislike it) but this is something I could definitely love and eat with pleasure!
Try minced lamb- it’s delicious!
Ha! I get you 🙂 About as far from hamburgers as you can get though!! 🙂
Looks tempting- I wonder about nutritional facts. Why with less oil and leaner meat you would get transfat but not in the other? Typing mistake?
That’s odd Eija, I’ll have to look into that, thanks for picking that up!
I love Indian food, but you are right, sooo many spices. I did just order Za’atar and Sumac from Amazon. I usually buy spices from the bulk aisle from my grocery store, but they’ve never carried these.
I have two chili powders to choose from. Ancho (sweet and mild) or chipotle (hot but pretty smokey). Which one should I use?
Hi Susan! Chipotle, definitely 🙂 It’s going to add a smokiness to the flavour that isn’t in mine, but it will still be VERY tasty! IN fact, the smokiness probably adds another dimension, like it’s been cooked over charcoal which much of Indian food is!!!
Hey Nagi, how’d you know I was looking at Indian recipes last night, only to find this one from you today?! Yeah! It looks delicious and so easy to make with ingredients I’ve already got.
Didn’t I mention I’m a mind reader….??? Te he he! So glad this is the kind of thing you’re in the mood for Barb!!! I do hope you try it, really is amazing, all credit to Scrambled Chefs!
Hi Nagi! This looks lovely and yet it is so simple! The only spice I don’t have is Garam Masala, but I’ve seen it at my local store. The price of of mince here has come down so I’ve been buying more and now I have a new recipe! Yay! 🙂
Oooh, I do hope you consider trying this!! I promise it is ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!
Hi Nagi!! I love this adaptation and so happy that you love Qeema in general – isn’t it seriously a treasure? Thank you for mentioning our blog Scrambled Chefs 🙂 Love how you always support fellow bloggers!
I’m definitely trying out your version of it during the weekend – I seriously love Qeema anything!
– Aena
I didn’t change anything!! Promise! 🙂 I just upped the quantities slightly to make this for 500g of mince instead of 400g 🙂 My friends LOVED THIS SO MUCH!!!! I made it for them along with aloo paratha!
Oh yeah you’re right, I just realized it’s exactly my mom’s recipe! Glad you and your friends enjoyed it 😀