RECIPE: MR G’S BEEF CURRY

I got my usual 1.00 pm phone call at work yesterday from Mr G, “Who's cooking today and What’s for dinner (did not wait for answer)….. I bought some nice rump steak….. what do you want me to do with it….would you like me to cube it or slice it…..by the way, what’s for dinner again?”

Well, we haven’t had curry for some time so I made a suggestion that I could make some curry but dinner would be late as I had quite a bit to do and could be late getting over unless ‘somebody’ could make dinner. The hint obviously got through as there was a lovely curry waiting for me when I got to see the kids . So all I had to do for my share was fry the vegetables. Here is how Mr G made his Asian style beef curry.

Ingredients
1 kg rump steak – diced
3 large potatoes – quartered
2 large tomatoes – quartered*
Thumb length and thick ginger*
½ a head of garlic*
3 large red or brown onions* (shallots would be better but they are currently nearly $10 a kilo in the supermarket, so normal onions it is!)
2 cinnamon sticks
3 large black cardamom pods
2 sprigs curry leaves
4 to 5 tbsp Malaysian meat curry powder
1 to 2 tsp chilli powder - optional
1 cup natural or Greek style yoghurt (or substitute with tinned coconut milk)
3 tbsp veg oil
Water
Coriander – for garnishing

Method
Grind together * ingredients with 1 cup of water.

Heat oil in a cooking pot; add in the curry leaves, cinnamon and cardamom pods. Next add in the ground ingredients and fry until the water has nearly evaporated.

Next add in the curry and chilli powder and about 1 cup of water. Cook for about 4 to 5 mins or until the water evaporates again and oil has seeped through the paste.

Add in the beef and cover the meat thoroughly with the spices and continue stirring to avoid the meat from sticking to the pot and until the meat changes colour. This seals the meat.

Add about 1 to 2 cups of water and the potatoes and cook until the meat is tender and the potatoes are nearly done. Add in the yoghurt and render the gravy if you like your thick; or add more water if you like your curry runny. Serve with rice, crusty bread or Indian breads such as puris, naan or CHAPATTIS. Also with stir fried vegetables like okra or cabbage such as STIR FRIED CABBAGE WITH TURMERIC.