Instant Pot Keema Lobia (Ground Beef & Black Eyed Peas Curry)
This Keema Lobia (ground beef & black-eyed peas curry) is an easy, dump-and-go Instant Pot keema recipe that I learned from my mother-in-law. It’s a lesser-known combination, but one that I had to share because of its ease and unique taste.
My parents-in-law have come to visit us for a bit – a common practice among spread out South Asian families. Growing up, my grandparents would come to stay for months, bringing gifts, stories, and culture. We found comfort and slowness in their presence, and I try to recreate the same with my in-laws – the homely, structured feel.
I make more of an effort around mealtimes, chopping up neglected vegetables, taking the rice out of the rice cooker, and sometimes, with the help of my mom-in-law, making two dishes for dinner (still don’t know how people do that every day).
My mom-in-law teaches me things I wouldn’t think to Google, like how to cook ‘tinde’ (apple gourd) or determine if green chili peppers are dry enough for achaar. She’s swift in the kitchen – chopping everything directly into the pot, using the smallest pans possible, barely leaving any footprint or sign of effort.
There are some dishes I’m determined to learn from her because her versions are simply the best – kadhi pakora, maash ki dal, and these ‘keema beans’ as she calls them. Of course, she makes this dish a little differently every time, but here’s my best recreation of it.
Some Keema Lobia tips:
- In this recipe, the ginger is added at the end. If biting into julienned or chopped pieces of ginger bothers you, feel free to crush and add them in the beginning along with the garlic.
- You’ll notice this recipe has more oil, salt, and spice than usual. This is intentional and true to my mom-in-law’s homestyle Punjabi cooking.
- This recipe uses pre-cooked black-eyed peas. To cook 1 pound in the Instant Pot, first, soak them for 30 minutes and drain. Then pressure-cook the beans with 7 cups water on high setting for 20 minutes. Drain any excess water.
- To keep the recipe extra easy, I use a food processor to chop onions, tomatoes, and garlic. Of course, you can manually chop these.
- Keema Lobia is wonderful with roti, but my in-laws grew up eating it with plain white basmati rice. It’s comforting either way.
P.S. Love keema? Don’t miss my Aloo Keema (Ground Beef & Potato Curry) recipe.
More Instant Pot recipes:
Instant Pot Goat & Bell Pepper Curry
Shami Kebab (w. Instant Pot Instructions)
For more ideas, check out my Instant Pot Pakistani Recipes Roundup!
Instant Pot Keema Lobia (Ground Beef and Black Eyed Peas Curry)
Ingredients
To Pressure Cook:
- 1 medium to large onion, cut into wedges
- 2 small tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 5-6 cloves garlic, cut into a couple pieces
- 1 lb ground beef, both lean and full fat work
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 ½-2 tsp mild red chilli powder, or to taste
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
After Pressure Cooking:
- ¼ cup neutral oil
- 1-1 ½ cups cooked black eyed peas
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ½ tsp garam masala
- 1 green chili or Serrano pepper, finely chopped
- 1 inch ginger, chopped or julienned
Garnish:
- 2 tbsp cilantro leaves, chopped
- ½-1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, optional
Equipment
- Food Processor
Instructions
- Add the onion, tomatoes, and garlic in the food processor and pulse to chop until a coarse mixture forms.
- Heat the Instant Pot to high sauté mode. Add the onion mixture, ground beef, cumin seeds, spice powders, and salt. Sauté on high setting for 2-3 minutes. You will notice that the mixture has started to release water.
- Cover and pressure-cook on high for 15 minutes. You do not need to add water.
- Allow the pressure to naturally release for 5 minutes, then manually release any remaining pressure. Sauté again on high for 5-7 minutes or until most of the water evaporates.
- Add the ingredients listed under ‘After Pressure Cooking’ continue to Sauté on high for another 2-3 minutes. Adjust salt and spices as desired. Cancel the Sauté function and add cilantro leaves and lemon juice.
8 Comments on “Instant Pot Keema Lobia (Ground Beef & Black Eyed Peas Curry)”
This recipe is SO good. Will definitely make it again!
Thank you, Sadaf! Glad you enjoyed it enough to make again 🙂
Made this recipe last night with canned black eyed peas and ground chicken. Was Superb. My husband enjoyed it a lot. New combination we have never tried. Keeping this recipe in future to make again and again.
Thanks so much, Aisha! Glad you gave it a go!
Aoa..love your recipes especially making them time friendly..
Wanted to ask can we use chicken keema instead ? With a lesser time on the Pressure cooker ?
W.S. Thank you so much, Momina! Yes, I think ground chicken would make a great sub here! I haven’t tried it myself but my guess is you’d pressure cook for around 6 minutes. Hope you get a chance to try it!
Thanks for the recipe – looking forward to trying it. I was wondering if I could use canned black eyed peas?
Yes Asma, you certainly can!