Goan beef curry fits nicely into the October challenge eating plan, especially if you use lite coconut milk. Served with basmati rice you’ll have the low GI considerations covered too. The freshly ground spices give the flavours you’d expect from an Indian curry – spicy and robust. With coconut milk as the base, you end up with a delicious, aromatic, creamy sauce. In fact it’s so fragrant, it can be smelled from the end of the street. So when children walk in from a long day of study, I’m usually greeted with: Are we having curry tonight?
The curry uses affordable cuts of meat, which means that you have to plan ahead as it takes longer to cook. It’s one of those dishes you put on mid-afternoon and let cook slowly for 3+ hours. The slow cooking process also means the flavours are infused into the meat, making it even more delicious to eat.
I personally love putting dinner on at lunch time. For some reason it’s just a whole lot calmer and you have the added bonus that it takes the stress out of dinner time. After all, what’s left to do but boil a pot of water and cook the rice. If you’re feeling energetic, throw together a little cucumber raita and a pappadum or two, and you’re set. Oh and don’t forget the jar of mango chutney from the fridge..Enjoy!
whole curry spices
Brown the onions, garlic and ginger.
Add the meat, and brown all over.
Add the spices and coconut milk.
Stir thoroughly and leave to simmer until meat is tender.
- 8 cardamon pods, seeds removed
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 8 cloves
- 10 cm cinnamon stick
- ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- ½ teaspoon black pepper corns
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 10 cm piece of ginger, grated
- 1kg braising or stewing steak cut into 2.5cm cubes
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ - 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 350 ml coconut milk
- Using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, grind the seeds from the cardamon pods, fennel seeds, cloves, cinnamon stick, fenugreek seeds, black pepper corns, coriander and cumin seeds, into a fine powder.
- Add a couple of tablespoons of oil to a heavy-based pan and heat over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and fry until lightly browned.
- Add the meat and fry until brown all over.
- Add all the spices and fry for a minute or two.
- Add the coconut milk and stir through.
- Cover, reduce the heat and simmer until the meat is tender. This can take 2-3 hours depending on the cut of meat you choose.
- If the liquid evaporates during cooking, add enough water to make a thick sauce. If the sauce is too liquid at the end of the cooking time, remove the lid and simmer until it evaporates.
- Season with salt to taste.
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