coconut, beef and potato curry

I was flipping through a Christmas edition of an old Jamie Oliver magazine I had kicking around when this recipe caught my eye.  Meltingly tender brisket in a flavourful coconut curry? I’m all in.  I made a few minor adjustments and didn’t use any chillies because my kids like to complain about food being “spicy” lately and I just didn’t want to deal with the drama.  I’m sure this would be extra good with some heat to it but even without, it is really, really delicious and the brisket really is so tender.  It does take basically an afternoon to slow cook, but it is so worth it.

900 grams beef brisket, cut into bite-sized cubes / 2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced / 5 cloves garlic, minced, 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, minced / 3 tbsp canola oil / 2 cinnamon sticks / 2 star anise / 1 tsp black peppercorns / 5 whole cloves / 1 tsp ground cardamom / 1 tbsp garam masala / 1 tbsp medium curry powder / 1 tbsp ground coriander / 1 400 ml can of full-fat coconut milk / 1 x 400 grams tin of whole tomatoes / 600 grams potatoes / sea salt to taste / (optional: 4 green chillies, sliced)

Preheat the oven to 300 F.  Heat up your oil in a dutch oven over medium heat and then add in the sliced onions, cooking them for about 10 minutes or until they’re all soft and translucent.  Then add in the ginger, garlic, cloves, star anise, cinnamon sticks, cardamom and peppercorns (and chillies if you’re using them).  Mix in 200 ml of water and bring it to a boil.

Turn the heat up to high and season the cubes of brisket with a bit of salt.  Add in the beef and mix to coat the beef with the onion-y spice mixture.

Next, add in the coconut milk, the whole tomatoes (including the juice), garam masala, ground coriander and curry powder.  Add in a bit of salt to taste and then switch off the burner and pop the lid onto your dutch oven.

Place the dutch oven into your preheated oven for 2.5 hours.  When that time is up, peel and cut up your potatoes into bite-sized cubes and add to the curry.  Give it a bit of a stir to get the potatoes all submerged and then put the lid back on and put back into the oven for a further 1.5 hours.

Your whole house should smell amazing at this point!  And after being patient for the past 4 hours, your curry is ready.   The recipe in the magazine has this as a one-pot wonder but for me, rice is life so I had to serve it with some basmati rice.  Turned out amazing and Rock has already requested that I make it again soon!

pakistani beef curry

Our friend dropped off some delicious beef and okra curry a little while ago and I just had to get the recipe off her.  I can’t get my hands on any okra so I decided to just skip it and no surprise, it’s still a delicious and very flavourful curry!

500 grams stewing beef (ideally chuck roast) cut into bite-sized cubes / 2 large yellow onions / 1 tin of whole tomatoes / 5 tbsp canola oil / 4 cloves of garlic / about a thumb-size knob of ginger / 2 cinnamon sticks / 2 tsp cumin seeds / 6 cardamom pods / 1 tsp ground turmeric / 1/4 to 1/2 tsp chili powder (adjust to how much heat you want) / 1 heaped tsp sea salt / 1 and 1/2 tbsp garam masala

First for a bit of prep by thinly slicing the onions and finely mince the garlic and the ginger. Heat up the oil in a large pot or over medium-high heat and then add in the onions, the cinnamon sticks, and cumin seeds.  Pop open the cardamom pods and toss those in too.

Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions have gone a bit brown and caramelized.

Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes.  Then add in the tin of tomatoes, the salt, turmeric, chili and garam masala.  Let it simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Turn the heat up to high and add the beef.  Stir to coat all the beef cubes and let it cook for about one minute.

Add 2 cups of water and once it has come to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer.

Put the lid on and let the curry slowly simmer for 2 hours, giving it stir occasionally.

Turned out really yummy and we just served this with some basmati rice.