Bengali Bites: Kheema
November 13, 2020
Remember when I said that Sunday dishes tend to be the heaviest? I’ve listed a lot of food that prove that, but let me add another one: Kheema. Also known as ground meat (or mincemeat) curry; my dad loves making it. My dad is definitely “head of making meat” in the family, and for good reason too; his food is immaculate. This runny, meaty delicacy is enough to make any Bengali family happy.
This reddish dish tastes especially good with plain rice, roti or even alone! Thinking back to when my parents made it when I was younger, I never appreciated how much time goes into making Kheema with the amount of marinating and with the amount of spices they add. But now, I look forward to the aroma of it. Even just recently, my mother and father made an extremely large amount of Kheema, and within a few days, everything besides the cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and cardamoms were left over. We really cannot get enough. I’m sure to recommend it to my friends whenever they want to eat any sort of indian food, because it’s something you can have with just about anything.
From what I have heard from my friends, Kheema can be made with ground beef- but I don’t eat that. So, my family substitutes mutton. From there, we start preparing the spices and the onions. We really spice it with ginger paste, garlic paste, Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, salt, dry red chillies, bay leaves, green cardamoms, and cinnamon sticks. Like other dishes, I will never stop being amazed at how much work and emotion goes into making bengali dishes- especially means such as Kheema. It looks like such an easy dish to make, but it is easy to make it dry, undercooked, or bland. It’s a tedious task to do, but the end product is worth gasping over.