A good curry isn't hard to make, but it's not a case of just adding curry powder to meat. I always add freshly ground spices to the curry powder to get that extra oomph.
Salt then slice the beef into bite size pieces and dice the following:
- Onion
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Cut chillies
- Tomatoes
Grind up in a motar and pestle these spices:
- Cloves
- Cinnamon
- Cardamom
- Star anise
Brown the beef/mutton cubes by adding them to a hot oiled pan. Do not add too much meat in at the same time as this will drop the temperature of the pan and the beef will start to steam rather than brown. Once browned, put the beef into a pot.
In that same pan, add a little more oil and fry the onions till they're transparent and start weeping. Add the ginger, chillies and garlic and continue cooking. Also, add into the pan;
- Coriander powder
- Turmeric
- Cumin
- Dried chillies / chilli powder
- Bay leaves
- Curry leaves
- Curry powder
- green tomato chutney (optional) or assam
- a little water
Fry till fragrant. Add this curry mix to the beef in the pot and set on a slow flame. Once the curry starts to simmer slightly, I taste and add some salt, vinegar or more of my home made green tomato chutney as needed.
Eat with roti prata!