Only 200g of lamb mince goes into Hairy Bikers keema rice, because the rice is the main event here rather than the meat. It comes from Everyday Winners, cooks in one pan with 200g of basmati and 300g of peas, and feeds four at about 415 calories.
They call it a cross between a pilaf, fried rice and a mince curry, and say it makes a hassle-free midweek supper. Being a one pot, it also saves on washing up.
The last ten minutes happen off the heat. Lay a tea towel over the pan, put the lid back on top of it, and leave it alone while the rice finishes in its own steam.
Hairy Bikers Keema Rice
Description
The mince is cooked down until the pan looks quite dry before any rice goes in. Peas, basmati and 400ml of water then go in together and simmer for a quarter of an hour. Half the coriander goes in early and half at the table.
Ingredients
To serve, optional
Instructions
- Brown the onion: Heat the oil in a large lidded saucepan or flameproof casserole dish. Add the onion and cook until golden brown.
- Cook the lamb: Turn the heat up, add the lamb and cook, stirring regularly, until nicely browned and cooked through.
- Add the spices: Add the ginger, garlic, half the coriander and the curry powder. Keep stirring until everything is well coated.
- Dry it out: Add the tomato purée and carry on stirring for a few minutes, until the mixture looks quite dry.
- Add rice and peas: Pour in the peas and rice with 400ml of water. Season, bring to the boil, then cover and turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until the liquid has gone and the rice is just done.
- Steam it: Take the pan off the heat, lay a tea towel over the top and put the lid back on. Leave it to steam for another 10 minutes.
- Serve: Scatter over the rest of the coriander and serve with green chillies and yoghurt.
FAQs
Why the tea towel under the lid?
Because it soaks up the steam. Without it, water collects on the underside of the lid and drips back down, leaving the top layer of rice wet while the bottom stays dry.
The cloth catches all of that, so the whole pan finishes evenly. The book makes a point of telling you to allow time for this, which is unusual for what is only a ten-minute rest.
Why so little mince?
Because this is a rice dish, not a mince dish. Two hundred grams across four people is enough to flavour the whole pan without turning it into a curry with rice on the side.
Their keema peas uses 500g for the same number of people, which tells you how differently the two are built. That one is mince with peas in it, this one is rice with mince through it.
The recipe says cook it until dry. How dry?
Dry enough that the pan looks almost fried rather than saucy. The mince should be coated in the curry powder and tomato purée with no liquid pooling around it.
That matters because the rice is measured against exactly 400ml of water. Any extra liquid still in the pan pushes it over, and the rice turns sticky instead of separate.
Can I use a different mince?
Beef works and keeps the same weight. Turkey thigh mince works too and drops the calories, though it browns less so you lose a bit of colour.
Their turkey keema peas shows what that swap does elsewhere, coming in at 270 calories against 455 for the lamb version of the same dish.
Do I need to rinse the rice?
Yes, and the recipe says so in the ingredient list. Rinsing washes off the loose starch that makes basmati clump together as it cooks.
Run it under cold water until the water runs clear, then drain it properly. Rice still dripping wet will spit when it hits the hot pan.
