Beef Vindaloo

Yep, that's the really hot one. This recipe goes out especially to Liam, the chilli challenger. On a recent curry night at our place, I wanted to make a curry I’d never made before and thought the spice tolerance of the invitees was high, so why not. The vindaloo was great! It was easy to prepare and the flavour was spot on. I struggled to add the amount of cloves and pepper, but I did and it paid off. Vindaloo is actually a Portuguese dish. The Portuguese introduced it to Goa, India, so yet again I learnt something new about curries. Food knowledge is never ending!

1 kg diced beef
200 mls white vinegar
2-4 tsp dried chillies (depending on how hot they are)
1 heaped tbs cumin seeds
1 tbs cloves
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
1 tbs black peppercorns
4 red chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped
10 garlic cloves
1 inch piece of ginger
1 tbs tamarind pulp
1 rbs brown sugar
3 tbs vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
300 mls water
salt

Marinate the beef in 100 mls of the vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt for 20 minutes and then drain and dry well.

Grind the cumin seeds, cloves and peppercorns to a fine powder.

Add the ground spices, cinnamon stick, fresh chilies, garlic, ginger, tamarind, vinegar, chilli flakes and sugar and process to a smooth paste.

Brown the beef in some oil and then set aside.

Fry the onions in some oil for 20 – 30 minutes.

Add the spice paste and fry for a further 5 minutes. Add the beef back to the pan with the water and 1 ½ teaspoons salt.

Bring to the boil and turn down to a simmer and cover and allow to cook for1 ½ - 2 hours, stirring from time to time, until the beef is tender.

S