Loosely adapted from
Keema Chawal / Ground Beef & Rice Pilaf

I made mine all in one skillet; like a Pakistani version of dirty rice 😉🤭🥰 it’s delicious!

a simple delicious Pakistani pila

Cuisine: Pakistani

Author: Sarah – Flour & Spice Blog

Ingredients

• 3.5 cups basmati rice
• 1 lb lean ground beef little less is fine
• 3/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 3-4 cloves
• 6-7 black peppers whole
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 1 regular sized onions or two small
• 1 heaped tsp garlic paste
• 1 heaped tsp ginger paste
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tablespoon red chilli powder
• 1/3 tsp turmeric
• 2 to matoes
• 3/4 tsp garam masala powder
• 2 tablespoons yogurt
• 4-6 green chillies
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1/4 cup mint
• oil for cooking

Instructions
Rice

1. * wash and soak your rice
2. * parboil your rice in briny (gnerously salted) water and drain.

Qeema

1. * whip your yogurt in a small bowl to make smooth and set aside
2. * dice your onion & tomatoes then chop your cilantro, mint and chillies and set aside.
3. * heat a lug of oil in a large bottomed pan or a wok – it will make for faster cooking than a small pot
4. * add the cloves, peppers, cinnamon and cumin seeds
5. *when the dry spices start to sizzle and give off an aroma then add the onion and saute till translucent
6. * in go the ginger and garlic paste, stir fry for a minute
7. * add the salt, red chilli powder, and turmeric powder. saute for another minute
8. * now in goes the ground beef, cook on medium high till well browned. this takes 5 minutes or so, if it starts to stick add more oil and continue to cook stirring frequently till the beef takes on a darker brown color
9. * add the yogurt and diced tomatoes and cook on medium heat till the tomatoes become one with the ground beef, you may see v thin tomato ‘skin’ pieces and that’s fine.
10. * now in go the garam masala powder, green chillies (start w 3-4), cilantro, mint, and lemon juice, cook for 1 minute and taste. It should be slightly salty, spicy, and tangy. If not then adjust seasoning.

Layering

1. Put half the rice in a large pot, then add a layer of ground beef, then top it with the remaining rice. If you want you can scatter over some green chillies and lemon pieces for their aroma. Leave the pilaf to cook on low temperature for about 20 minutes and then fix carefully so as to not break the rice

Recipe Notes

* I usually start cooking the rice before the beef and then whenever it is done I drain it and set it aside till ready to use
* Salting your rice is so important, but if you underdo it then adjust the seasoning in the raita/yogurt to compensate.
* For a more ‘chatpata’ (spicy & strong) taste you can always add two spoons of achar masala to the ground beef.