Friday, November 7, 2008

Beef Vindaloo

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon Cumin
4 Dried Red Chillies
1 Teaspoon Black Pepper Corns
The Seeds From 5 Green Cardamom Pods
1 Teaspoon Fenugreek Seeds
1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds (or mustard if you cant get hold of the seeds)
1 Inch Piece of Ginger (grated)
2 Teaspoons Coriander
1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric
1 Garlic Clove
A Pinch of Sugar and Salt
4 Tablespoons White Wine Vinegar
900g Beef (cubed)
1 Large onion (as finely chopped as you can manage)
A Splash of Oil or Two
375g Rice (again anything but pudding)

Equipment
Pestle and Mortar (or instead of seeds use powder)
1 SHARP Knife
1 Chopping Board
1 Large Frying Pan
1 Mixing bowl

The Good Bit
  1. Grind up the cumin seeds, peppercorns, fenugreek, cardamom and mustard seeds (leave out the mustard if you are not using seeds) and chillies until you have a fine powder, or just mix them all together if you are using dried powders and mustard from a jar and keep in the mixing bowl.
  2. Heat your oil in the frying pan and cook the onion until it is golden brown, then mix this in the mixing bowl with your powder the white wine vinegar a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar.
  3. Now fry of the beef in a little oil until it begins to brown on all sides, then remove from the pan and leave to settle whilst you add another splash of oil to the pan and cook the garlic and ginger for 2mins then add the coriander and turmeric and cook for another 2 minutes.
  4. Add your onion and spice mix to the frying pan now and cook for a further 5 minutes, really get those flavours mixing before adding the meat along with a good glass of water (not a pint but imagine a glass of something cold when you've just come in from a hot day outside and that is the size you want.
  5. Cover and cook for 1-1 1/2 until the meat is really tender (at this stage if you need more liquid just add a little more water, if the sauce is too liquid then turn up the heat and uncover for 5 minutes. Serve with rice
Serves 6