You can do it too: Beef Curry

One of my favorite curries to make is the Beef Curry. There is just something about beef cooked to ultimate tenderness in a perfect blend of aromatics and spices that makes it so divine to my palate. When executed properly, it is one of my ultimate comfort foods that evokes pleasant memories of my childhood.

And so today, I will show how you can make this beef curry too using the generic steps that I outlined at 5 Steps to Making Curry. And because I will be preparing stew beef, I chose to use my heavy bottomed stovetop pressure cooker. You may use an electric pressure cooker (the Ninja Foodi or the Instant Pot).

So, let’s get started.

Step 1: The Oil

I started by heating my cooker on the stovetop and adding a thin layer of Olive oil.

Step 2: The Aromatics

As the oil was heating up, I quickly diced up a medium onion and added it to the pot. Here you can see the onions pushed to the side to reveal some of the oil it was cooking in.

Along with the onions, I added a couple of tablespoons of my homemade ginger-garlic paste.

Step 3: The Spices

After the above cooked for awhile, I began to add the spices. I add the following:

• About 3-4 tablespoons of a paste made up of Fennel seeds ground along with some unflavored frozen shredded coconut*
• About a teaspoon of Indian Red Chilli Powder (you really want to get some from the Indian grocery store)
• A teaspoon of ground Tumeric
• A tablespoon of Coriander powder
• Half a tablespoon of Cumin powder
• About a quarter teaspoon of ground Cinnamon

* You could really just add Fennel powder here and add coconut milt in step 5 but I am partial to texture and flavor created by the ground up coconut along with the Fennel seeds

This is what it looked like after I added in just the fennel mixture.

This is kind of what it looks like after added the various spices.

Let the above cook for a little bit giving it a stir so that they are all fully incorporated. If the mixture feels a bit dry, feel free to add a little bit of water or coconut milk. It is important to let the spices simmer for a bit to remove their raw edge.

Step 4: The Star Ingredient, Stew Beef

Now you are ready to add your stew beef that has been cut to bite size pieces and ready to cook. I personally like to cut them smaller than what you normally would in an actually stew. This allows for the flavors to infuse into more parts of the beef. Yum.

This is me getting ready to add the beef. About 1.5 lbs of it.

Mix it well so it is coated well in the spices. At this point, also add some salt to taste…I add about 2 teaspoons salt.

Step 5: The Liquid

Let the about cook for about 2-3 minutes, stirring every so often. Now you are ready to add the liquid. Since I already added in the shredded coconut along with the fennel and spices, I am just going to add water now. But if added only fennel powder in the earlier step, then I would be adding coconut milk here now.

This is what my curry now looks like with just the water added.

I know it doesn’t look like much. That’s because the full cooking process has not yet completed. The real magic happens when the pressure cooking process is complete.

Optional Step: Add Extras

At this point before putting the lid on the cooker to let it pressure cook, you may choose to add a couple other ingredients.

• Chopped cilantro will add more flavor and an essential part of Indian cuisine. In this instance, I don’t think I had any fresh cilantro and so I skipped it.
• You may also choose to add in some peeled and washed potato cubes – a medium size potato cut into 6 pieces. Not too small but not too big either. I did not do this step this particular day but something I like adding to give it some extra flavor. If you are adding the potatoes, do add more salt too.

The Final Step

Okay, so, now that all the ingredients have been added, it is time to let them all cook. I put the cooker lid on along with the pressure weight (with an electric cooker, you just need to make sure the pressure valve is closed).

Because I am using the stove top today, I wait for it reach the pressure as announced by the loud whistles and then let it stay on pressure for about 20 minutes. However if you were to use an electric cooker, you can just follow the instructions and cooking times in the manual for your particular appliance.

Once the pressure cooking is done and the pressure has all been released, it is now time for you to carefully open the lid and the enjoy the magical transformation of your precious Beef Curry.

This is how mine turned out! And it tasted, oh, so divine over a bed of white jasmine rice.