Had some leftover minced chicken (keema) in my refrigerator and cooked up my mom’s signature dish- Chicken Keema kofta Curry. A tasty yet flavorful recipe of chicken meatballs cooked in Indian gravy and flavored with aromatic spices. As compare to veggie kofta curry these ones are easy to shape and cook. Traditionally keema is made from minced lamb meat/mutton but here I have used chicken to prepare these koftas.
Chicken koftas are cooked in two ways- either they can be cooked the way shown below or can be cooked by tossing raw keema balls in the gravy. Either way is fine and keema balls are cooked thoroughly in both the methods and are super moist. These koftas can be prepared in advance and when you are ready to serve dinner/lunch (15 minutes before serving) toss them in gravy, give it a boil and served them fresh and hot.
Towards the end of the recipe potli masala was added to the gravy but that is totally optional. It can be substituted with store bought keema masala or even if you leave that out, it just fine. Only difference is that adding this spice flavor took the gravy to a different level and it ended up tasting like restaurant style keema kofta curry.
If you prefer a smooth and creamy gravy, substitute chopped tomato with 2 tablespoon of tomato puree. Enjoy this delicious and tasty keema kofta curry over a bed of hot rice or with naan or Kulchas.
Try our other chicken recipes – Saag wala chicken, Chicken Kebab, Kalmi kebab, Dhaba style chicken, Chicken Keema, Tandoori Chicken, Butter Chicken.
Chicken Keema kofta Curry
INGREDIENTS
FOR KOFTAS - MAKES 12 KOFTAS
- 225 gms Minced Chicken ( 1 cup)
- 1/2 - 2/3 cup Roasted Besan
- 1/4 teaspoon Ginger paste
- 1/4 teaspoon Garlic paste
- 1/2 teaspoon Roasted cumin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon Coriander powder (sukha dhaniya)
- 1/4 teaspoon Deggi Mirch or Red chili Powder
- 1 teaspoon Chopped cilantro leaves
- Salt to taste
FOR GRAVY
- 1 medium Onion grounded to paste
- 1/2 teaspoon Ginger paste
- 1/2 teaspoon Garlic paste
- 1 medium Tomato grounded to paste
- 1 small Tomato, chopped
- 2-3 pieces of Black Cardamom
- 2-3 pieces of Bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon Deggi Mirch or Red chili Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Coriander powder (sukha dhaniya)
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1/8 teaspoon Potli Masala or Keema Masala (optional)
- 1/2 cup Cream or Thick yogurt
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon Oil or Ghee
- 2 teaspoon Chopped Coriander leaves (for garnish)
INSTRUCTIONS
KOFTAS PREPARATION
- Assemble: all the ingredients.
- Wash, mince and squeeze out water from the chicken. Chicken should be dry and crumbly.
- Transfer minced chicken in a big bowl and add ingredients one by one.
- Add chopped coriander leaves, spices and mix all the ingredients together.
- Make small kofta balls.
- This will make 12 koftas.
- Heat a non stick kadhai and grease it. Add koftas....
- Cover and cook them on low heat.
- Turn them occasionally and cook till evenly brown from all the sides.
- It will take 10 minutes on low flame.
- Chicken keema koftas are ready. Set them aside.
GRAVY PREPARATION
- Assemble: all the ingredients for the gravy.
- In a kadahi heat oil or ghee and add bay leaf, cumin and black cardamom. As they brown up add ginger-garlic paste and cook for few seconds.
- Add onion paste and cook for 2-3 minutes. For me it was 2:30 minutes.
- Mix in tomato puree and chopped tomatoes, salt, red chili powder or degi mirch powder and add 1/4 cup of water and cook the masala on medium flame for 3- 4 minutes. For me it was 3:30 minutes.
- Add in all the spices, cream and cook for another 3 minutes....
- Till the oil starts to separate from the masala.
- Finally mix in potli masala or keema masala. Again this is optional.
- Add water and bring the gravy to a boil.
- Drop in cooked keema koftas, mix and give it a final boil.
- Cover and take the kadhai off the flame. Let the koftas soak in the gravy for 5-6 minutes.
- Chicken keema kofta curry is ready.
- Serve hot garnished with chopped cilantro leaves and hot naan and salad. The table is set... Enjoy!!
Just want to say your recipe is too yummy. Never made or heard of keema kofta and was very tasty. The clearness in your recipes is simply great and i think you are a professional cook. Please continue the gratifying work and bring in some more yummy recipes.
Thanks Sweety!! That’s my mom’s speciality and we have enjoyed this recipe since childhood.Glad you liked it. Thanks for stopping by:)
I like your recipes! Gonna try this one soon! Appe pan such a great idea … awesome. I hate frying things , time consuming and oily . Thanks for sharing and non fried method.
You are welcome Sarita! I agree appe pan is a great help around the kitchen. Do give them a try and if possible share your experience. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Made Keema kofta..extremely yummy dish. Didn’t had all the ingredients, just used curd, yogurt and few of the mentioned Indian spices, flavored it with Indian curry powder and it taste great. Thanks for sharing such an easy recipe.
You are welcome Isabell. Glad you liked the recipe and thanks for stopping by! 🙂
We as a family really enjoyed this recipe! I thought this was a great recipe and my 2 and 4 year old boys loved it. Minor changes to the recipe, instead of mincing onion I left the onions coarsely chopped and it made for a nice texture. These turned out amazingly delicious.
Thanks for sharing your experience with me Nagma! Glad you liked the recipe. 🙂
Great recipe and my family loved it. Spices were perfect and we finished every thing even licked of our plates.My kids want it to be made more often. Thanks for sharing Ruchi. You are awesome.
So sweet of you Jhanvi! Glad your family relished the recipe! Thanks for stopping by!
Thank u so much for this grand recipe.I will try it tomorrow positively since all the ingredients are presently available at my kitchen.Hope my family members will relish it.
You are welcome Soma. Sure give it a try and if possible share your experience with me. Thanks for stopping by and will see you around on the blog. 🙂
How much water is required for 8th step?
Thanks for stopping by Reema. It depends on how thick you want your gravy to be. I have added 3/4 cup of water and the gravy was of a thick consistency.
Butter chicken
and keema kofta recipe was too yummy……… Had tried both of them……… Thanks for sharing that to with images:-)
Thanks for trying the recipe and for your wonderful feedback. Really appreciate that. Glad to know that you enjoyed the recipes. Keep checking back for more. 🙂
amazing recipe. i lykd d fried ones bttr dn d gravy ;p dey tasted realllly guuud :*
Thanks Fiza for trying the recipe. Glad you liked it. 🙂
It looks very nice I will try it surely
Thanks Kanwal!!
I tried it today evening, It came out to be very good. Everyone enjoyed it. But instead of water I used 500 ml curd
Thanks for sharing your experience with me Musadiq! Glad you liked the recipe.
Just made this recipe today. It turned out very tasty. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Glad you liked the recipe. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience with me.
Hi Ruchi,
I sent a message two weeks ago to say I made a vegan version which turned out great. Thank you. I think you may not have been able to publish because I referenced a brand name for the soya mince I used. Unfortunately the only record I have of my adjustments were on that message 😆… do you have it still? Thank you 🙏🏼
Hello MrsG,
Thank you for trying the vegan version and sharing your feedback.
Did you send me feedback on this? I have searched all my folders and I don’t see a comment from you.
Dear Ruchi,
I have made my vegan version again! I used organic dehydrated soya mince ( made with pure defatted soya beans, no other ingredients). I soaked in minimal vegetable stock, added a tablespoon of ground flaxseed in three tablespoons of hot water and a little oil to bind it. Then made the balls as per your recipe. I allowed to firm up in the fridge before shallow frying.
Other substitute was vegan coconut yoghurt. It was delicious and we are having it every two weeks. Thank you Ruchi!
Either something went wrong or it was this recipe. Kofta came out so hard and it gave the taste of besan. It has come out awful and is tasteless.
Dear Jasmine, sorry to hear that the recipe didn’t turn out the way you expected. This recipe has been tried by many without any complaints. Hard koftas means the chicken was overcooked. With tasteless do you mean was it the koftas or was it the gravy?