Recipe: Manglorean minced meat with potatoes and peas

Minced meat cooks much faster than regular meat chunks and mum always cooked mince for us when she was in a hurry. Mince is comfort food for me in a strange way. The younger of my 2 brothers LOVES mince and will eat it in any form at any time of the day or night.


When growing up, minced meat usually meant beef. These were the days when Hindu political parties in India were more concerned with social development and had not yet started dictating what food products could and could not be eaten in the country. Beef was much cheaper than mutton and the cheapest option during the monsoons when fishing was just not done (ecological and climate cycles and all).

Now in most states in India, the sale of beef has been banned and buffalo meat is just too tough to bother cooking with,  so its just easier to cook with mutton. So this recipe was originally designed for beef mince, but can be cooked with mutton mince. Beef has a stronger flavour and you may want to use a bit more spices and tomatoes when cooking.

(in this picture it has been served with puris)

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo minced meat - washed and drained

2 medium onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
1" ginger + 4-5 cloves garlic finely chopped or 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 large potatoes chopped in cubes
1- 1.5 cup green peas
1 tsp or more Stew Powder/pepper powder
salt to taste
1/2 tsp oil for tempering
chopped corriander leaves to garnish

Method:
In a pan, heat the oil and add the onions, ginger and garlic (or paste).
Saute till onions turn translucent and then add the tomatoes and cook till it all turns mushy.
Add the potatoes and let them brown slightly, then add the mince, salt and stew powder.
Cook till almost done.
Then add the peas and gently let them steam till cooked.
Garnish with chopped corriander leaves (you can also garnish with a chopped boiled egg to make it look fancier when you have guests over)
Serve hot with puris or rice and dhal

Leftovers:

Its so easy to use leftover mince. There are so many things you can do with it.
Stuff it into samosas
Bake mince puffs
As a topping for home made pizzas
Sloppy joes
Sandwich fillings.
You can smash the potatoes fine and add a little more boiled potatoes if needed and turn them into cutlets.

Note: My friend May who is also Manglorean has a similar recipe for Minced Meat with Vegetables Its almost identical to my mums recipe. So you can compare the two and see how Manglorean cooks have subtle differences while cooking theoretically the same dish.