Beef Curry

Impending cold weather always reminds me of a trip to Russia. I haven’t been there but the cold weather always reminds of it.

Get your large frying pan and large saucepan to hand.

As you may gather I tell everyone to use there own judgement.

Get your fav. Butcher to slap it on the slab; yes his finest beef suitable for currying (I can’t tell the rump from the fillet or whatever!)

Get him/her to dice it up for you. (Oddly enough I prefer to put it in the freezer for a few weeks to tenderise it — well, seems to work)

When your ready get a sharp knife and probably you’ll want to cut up the diced beef into smaller pieces, and remove any grizzle/fat.

You’ll need to make a paste first in your frying pan. I use Garam Masala; Tandoori Masala; cardamoms; black peppercorns; a hint of cloves and fennel seed.

For the ‘hot’ aspect I tend to go for cayenne pepper, but be cautious.

And finally that amazing ingredient that sounds like a funny Greek. I’ll have to ask the editor to insert the correct name for me, but it’s a must! (its FENUGREEK you idiot - its an aromatic Mediterranean plant whose seed is used in the west mainly as part of curry powder and which is traditionally used in Africa to fatten women!! Ed.)

Have at hand your onions and garlic.

An oxo cube. (for beef stock)

Right then.

In the frying pan heat up some oil.(not to high a heat!!)

Put all the spices together, if necessary you may have to grind some to get them down to a fine powder.

Put the mixed spices in the heated oil and blend in.

When heated through add your diced beef. Keep turning it, till the beef has started to turn a Mediterranean brown ( I love a bit of poetic description!)

Transfer the contents into your large saucepan.

Continue gently heating; at this stage you should be boiling some water to add to the oxo cube to make your beef stock.

Pour some of your beef stock over the diced beef as it’s heating.

Now allow to simmer. (An hour or so)

And now have a drink of Strongbow (not compulsory, hence its omission from the list of ingredients).

Chop up your onions and garlic. These can be added later when you think your beef is close to ready.

Now some little hints. If you think the curry is too watery, mix a little cornflour with water and add to the curry, this should help to thicken it.

And if you’ve gone overboard with the cayenne pepper add some creamed coconut.

So, keep sampling your beef till you feel that it’s soft enough.

When ready set it aside to cool down.

You may recall from the recipe on Spag. Boll. that I like to place my food into empty ‘flora’ margarine containers and place in the freezer.

Mushrooms can be added freshly when you’re ready to make your curry, either with chips or rice.

So there you are. Another little masterpiece!