23-02-2025
Got Ground Meat? Cook Some Keema.
Image Tejal Rao's keema (spiced ground meat). Credit... Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.
Good morning. There's no better weekend morning than one that begins in line at Trinciti Roti Shop in Ozone Park, Queens, waiting amid the good-natured crowd for doubles to eat in the car afterward: one goat and one oxtail for now, with all the sauces, a bake and saltfish for later and, to wash it all down, a bottle of Peardrax.
It's fuel for adventure: a long walk in Shirley Chisolm State Park, for instance, looking for snowy owls; or a ramble through Forest Park to count squirrels. I'll think about dinner as I roam. (I always do.)
Could this be the night for a pork roast with jalapeño gravy? Or for coconut red curry with tofu? Possibly.
But I've been wanting to make Tejal Rao's recipe for keema (above) for a while now, alongside a stack of chapati and a bowl of yogurt to dollop beside the meat. It's simple, comforting food — ground beef simmered with caramelized onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, warm spices and plenty of cilantro and mint — that's perfect for a Sunday night. Tejal never steers me wrong.
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