Beef and Pea Curry (Keema Matar)

What magic ingredient transforms ho-hum ground beef and frozen peas into exotic lusciousness? Garam masala. This blend of warm spices usually gets sprinkled on sparingly at the end of Indian cooking for a bright, fragrant finish. But in beef and pea curry (Keema Matar), a heap of garam masala added early on infuses every spoonful with the excitement of a Bollywood extravaganza.

If pumpkin spice had a savory, more sophisticated, less seasonal cousin, it would be garam masala. Besides cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom, garam masala throws in cumin, coriander, and black pepper. Garam masala adds mysterious warmth to tomato sauce. You can find a similar effect in Greek tomato sauce, which leans on cinnamon and cloves for its complexity.

We’ve gotten heavy-handed with garam masala before (see Punjab Pasta with Chicken or Chickpeas ), but Keema Matar unabashedly puts it center stage. Our favorite Indian cookbook author, Maddhur Jaffrey, might disagree—her Keema Matar has far less garam masala. Perhaps our fondness for garam masala has something to do with our American tastes—especially our love for those warm, fall spices.

Beef and Pea Curry (Keema Matar)

Adapted from Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street

• 14 ½ ounce can whole peeled tomatoes

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 3 tablespoons oil

• 1 large onion, finely chopped

• 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger, fresh or frozen

• 3 tablespoons garam masala

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1 pound lean ground beef (85 percent or more)

• 2 cups frozen peas

• ½ cup plain whole-milk yogurt, plus more for serving

• Chopped fresh cilantro for serving

1. In a medium bowl, crush tomatoes into small pieces, either with your hands or a mashing tool. Stir in ½ cup water and the tomato paste. Set aside.
2. Add oil to a 12-inch skillet and heat over medium-high until shimmering. Add onion and cook, stirring, until soft and starting to brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and ginger, and cook, stirring, for about a minute, until fragrant.
3. Reduce heat to low. Add garam masala, cinnamon, and about ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper and bloom spices, stirring, until fragrant (less than a minute).
4. Stir in the tomato mixture. Simmer over medium, continuing to stir and scrape up spices, until mixture slightly thickens, about 5 minutes.
5. Crumble ground beef into 1- to 2-inch chunks and place on top of the tomato mixture. Do not stir, just let the chunks sit there and cook. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons Kosher salt over the meat, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Continue to cook without stirring until the beef chunks no longer look pink, about 6 minutes.
6. Uncover the pan and stir in peas. Without mashing the peas, break up any large chunks of beef and cook without stirring until beef shows no pink, about 4 minutes. Keep small chunks of beef as is. Take the pan off the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. This lets it cool down so the yogurt won’t curdle. Stir in the yogurt. To serve, sprinkle on cilantro and offer additional yogurt at the table.