Its taken me a while to find a few curries to have in my note books of favourite recipes that I can always fall back on when I need to come up with a delicious meal for family and friends. This beef curry fits the bill perfectly. It’s a great winter warmer ( I like curry all year!) and another one pot recipe, it ticks all the boxes! It does take quite a lot of prep (easy) and a few spices but is well worth the effort. I often find that the one pot dishes that taste the best have quite a lot of prep, although I do have a few that you can just throw together and have great results!

I find separating and measuring out all the ingredients at the start helps immensely and stops any confusion! ~ it only takes a phone call or a distraction and you’ll be wondering if you had already added the cumin etc ( or is that just me?) anyway it’s what I do and it works for me!

I’m giving you the original recipe but I double up and it works perfectly. The other thing I would suggest is to make it up 24hrs in advance or up to 48hrs it gives the flavour time to develope and it turns it into any easy delicious dinner by just heating through. It freezes well, defrost then re-heat. I serve it with basmati rice, Greek yoghurt and avocados on the side, with lots of fresh coriander you can of course just serve with chapatis.

The only tweaking I made to the original recipe is in the amount of liquid, I prefer it with less sauce, I find that if it’s to dry when reheating you can add a little water, but I think it’s more about personal preference!

Be prepared for a daunting amount of ingredients but a lot of the spices you’ll probably already have.You’ll also see what I mean about measuring out and getting organised before hand ensuring you don’t forget anything or worse still add to much of something!

serves 4 ~ I suggest doubling up and freezing.

You will need:

• 4 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 med onions, sliced
• 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 8 garlic cloves crushed to a paste
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 green finger chillies, sliced
• 6 black cardamom pods
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1kg diced British stewing beef
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp med curry powder
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• handful of chopped coriander leaves & lime wedges along with rice or chapatis or both!!!

Method:

Heat the oil in a large heavy based saucepan with a lid over a medium heat. Add the sliced onions and brown thoroughly, stirring, until the edges start to caramelise (about 10 mins). Spoon in the grated ginger and garlic, quickly followed by the cinnamon stick, chillies, cardamom, peppercorns and cloves. Add 100ml cold water and cook, stirring, for 2 mins, allowing the spices to mix together.

Season the beef, turn the heat up to high, then add to the pan and brown throughly, coating the meat in the spice base. Cover and cook over a low heat for 45 mins or until it looks jammy and slightly dry around the edges.

Add the tinned tomatoes, curry powder, ground coriander and garam masala along with 500ml water. Season with salt and pepper, stir then cover and cook for another 30 mins over a very low heat ~ after this stage is where I decante some of the liquid take off the lid and turn it up a little for 25 mins, stirring occasionally.

(If you have an Aga cover and put it in the simmering oven where it will sit happily for hours!! )

Keeping it uncovered turn the heat to low/ med and cook for a further 1 hour 30 minutes by now the meat should start to feel soft and tender. The secret to this dish is the long slow cooking.

Scatter with coriander, squeeze over the lime before serving. And of course a glass of red or a cold beer or two!! Oh it’s quite hot & spicy so cool Greek yogurt works really well!!!

Enjoy x