Beef & Pork Madras

method

BE PREPARED! BE VERY PREPARED! That's what you need to do to keep your sanity when making any dish, especially those with large ingredients lists like Indian curries such as this Madras Curry. You could use a shop-bought Madras curry paste to save time, however, it will not taste the same as using my recipe here and will cost a little more than making your own.

Here's a couple of pictures showing how I prepare everything so that I'm ready to make this dish:

A Note on Toasting Spices: Toasting whole spices gently brings out the natural oils and enhances the flavour significantly, however, they can easily burn, so put them into a medium-hot pan and don't walk away. Move them around by shaking the pan &/or stirring them gently. You will know when they are done enough, because the aroma of spices will have filled your kitchen. Remove them from the heat and then tip them into a cold heavy bowl or plate to cool down completely before grinding them down to a fine powder. I tip them into my pestal & mortar which is made from thick stone, it's perfect for the job! Once cooled you can grind them to a fine powder and congratulate yourself for the work out ;-) I use an electric spice grinder as I have ZERO patience and I do love a gadget!

Note on Browning the Mince: brown the mince meat in small batches so that it does not boil as the water is released. You want the mince to be char-browned to give a really rich, deep umami flavour and dark brown colour to the final dish

method for the curry paste

1. Put all your whole spices into one pot
2. Put all your pre-ground spices into another pot
3. Heat a dry frying pan to a medium heat
4. Add the whole spices to the pan & toast gently

5. Don't walk off as the spices burn easily!
6. Move the spices gently around the pan
7. Tip the spices into a pestal & mortar to cool
8. Grind the whole spices to a fine powder
9. Mix all the spices together

10. Finely chop your ginger & garlic
11. Add the ginger & garlic to the spices
12. Tip the spice, ginger & garlic mix into a pot

13. Add oil and stir the mixture well

See, simple to make and it saved you a mile walk to the shop, saving you a little money at the same time. Yeah! And I guarantee that your home-made masala curry paste will taste far better than anything you can buy in the shop. A big bonus too is that you have total control over what ingredients that go into it, no unnecessary preservatives or flavour enhancers :¬)

Method for the curry

14. Heat a heavy bottomed pan to a medium-high heat
15. Brown the meat off in stages a little at a time
16. Once brown, set it aside in a dish

17. Add your onions and brown for about 20 minutes

18. Lower the heat to medium and add star anis & cardamom pods
19. Add the tomato puree & masala curry paste
20. Add a teaspoon of tumeric powder
21. Gently stir fry so as to not break the star anis
22. Cook until your kitchen smells amazing again!
23. Add your meat back to the pan
24. Brown the meat off again for 5 minutes until hot

25. Add the tinned tomatoes & water

26. Stir again for 5 mins & cover
27. Remove the star anis
28. Cover and cook for 30 minutes, stir occasionally
29. Add the sliced peppers, stir & cover for about 5mins
30. Take the lid off to reduce some of the liquid
31. When the peppers are to your liking & sauce is thicker
32. Add the tamarind paste, stir & let it melt into the sauce
33. Taste the dish and add salt & sugar
34. Taste again and adjust as necessary*

*Tip: If you are not sure if there is enough salt in the dish, take a little of the mixture from the pan on a spoon and taste it, then add a pinch of salt to some more on a spoon. If it tastes better you can add another level teaspoon of salt to the pan. Do that, stir and taste again. When happy with the seasoning:

35. Add fresh or frozen coriander and stir well

Setting the dish in the fridge overnight will allow the flavours to develop and enhance, but this is optional, I'm eating mine tonight!