This dish may also be made with ground lamb, or, for that matter, with ground beef. When using turkey, make sure your butcher includes both light and dark meat. White meat alone will be very dry. In Hyderabad, in the very center of South India, this keema (the Indian word for ground meat) is typically served at Sunday brunches with khichri (the dish of rice and split peas from which the British kedgeree was derived; see Rice with Moong Dal, page 213), pappadom for crunch, and pickles for pizzazz. Store-bought Indian pickles such as mango, lemon, or chili will do, but if you prefer, a sweeter preserved chutney would be just fine.

Ingredients

　　3 tablespoons olive or canola oil

　　1 teaspoon whole mustard seeds

　　1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

　　2 dried hot red chilies

　　10 fresh curry leaves, or 5 fresh basil leaves, torn up

　　1/2 cup finely chopped onions

　　2 cloves garlic, crushed in a garlic press

　　2 teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger

　　1 pound ground turkey, dark and light meat combined

　　1 tablespoon ground coriander seeds

　　1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds

　　4 tablespoons plain yogurt

　　1 cup peas, fresh or frozen and defrosted

　　1 teaspoon salt

　　Pour the oil into a frying pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the mustard seeds, the cumin seeds, and the red chilies. As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop, a matter of seconds, add the curry leaves and the onions. Stir and fry until the onion pieces turn brown at the edges. Add the garlic and ginger. Stir for half a minute. Add the ground turkey. Turn heat to medium. Stir as you break up all the lumps in the meat. Add the coriander, cumin, yogurt, and 1/2 cup water. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low, and cook 35 minutes. Add the peas, salt, and 1/4 cup water. Stir to mix. Cover and cook another 7–10 minutes.

　　Excerpted from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka by Madhur Jaffrey. Copyright © 2010 by Random House. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Buy the full book from Amazon.