Keema in process

Serves 4

A wonderful friend made Keema for my daughter, Audrey, and me one weekend our families were away together. She is an experienced cook and knows the luxury of a dinner you can hold in the oven at 200 degrees until everybody’s ready. She serves it with shredded coconut, perfectly tender roasted carrots, and only with basmati rice. I, however, am a little less strict about ingredients and have found that jasmine rice is also quite nice.

Use your Everblossom chard, onion, garlic, basil and tomatoes.

This has become such a family favorite, I triple this recipe and put the other two batches in the freezer.

3 tablespoons curry powder
3 tablespoons sesame oil, or peanut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bunch of Swiss chard, rinsed and chopped
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped (cilantro or parsley is good here too)
1 pound ground beef
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
6 to 8 ripe plum-sized tomatoes or equivalent
10 ounces frozen peas

• Prepare rice according to package instructions. Hold separately.
• Sauté curry powder in oil over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add onions and brown. Add garlic, chard and basil and stir. Add meat and brown.
• Blanch tomatoes in hot water until you can remove peels easily; finely chop.
• Add salt and peeled, chopped tomatoes; cover. Cook over low heat for about 20 to 25 minutes. Add peas, mix in, cover again, and cook for about 5 minutes.
• Serve over rice

Important: Do not use a black cast iron skillet or wooden spoons; the curry powder will get in the pores. A silicon scraper may also be dyed yellow.