Beef Vindaloo

A fabulous beef curry, simple, fresh and spicy.  It uses tamarind concentrate which has a wonderful citrus almost vinegar flavor which cuts through the hot chili's nicely.

I always go heavy on the chili's in this dish as I usually team it with milder chicken or lamb curries.  You can adjust to suit your tastes by using less of the dried chili's, however I would suggest you keep the full amount of fresh chilis in and deseed them if you want a sweeter version.  But be brave and go hot for a tradition vindaloo! This recipe is from Ajoy Joshi's Indian Home Cooking book and I have used it at least a dozen times, with great success.

serves 8-10 as part of an Indian meal

Ingredients:
5 dried red chili peppers, broken into small pieces
1 tspn cumin seeds
1 tblspn black peppercorns
1 1/2 tblspn finely grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 tblspn crushed garlic
1/2 tspn ground turmeric
1/2 cup vegetable oil and melted butter combined, use half/half
1 lb (500g) brown onions, about 3 medium, finely diced
1 tspn salt, plus extra to season
2 lb (1kg) beef chuck, excess fat removed, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
about 4 cups water
4 fresh green chili peppers, diced
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 tspn tamarind concentrate
1/2 sugar

Method:

• In a spice grinder, grind the dried chili pepper, cumin seeds and peppercorns to a powder.  Place in a bowl and combine with ginger, garlic and turmeric.  Set aside.
• In a frying pan, heat the oil and butter mixture over a medium-low heat. 
• Add onions and salt. Cook, uncovered, stirring often, until the onions are dark golden in color, about 15-20 mins.  Raise the heat to medium-high and add beef.  Cook, turning beef pieces for 5 minutes.  Do them in batches if necessary to allow them enough space to brown.
• Add the spice mixture and cook, stirring until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes.
• Pour in enough water to cover beef.
• Add fresh chili peppers and bring to a simmer.  Cook over low heat, partially covered, stirring occasionally until the liquid is reduced by half, about 1 hour
• Stir in vinegar, tamarind and sugar.
• Taste and add more salt if necessary
• Cook uncovered until the sauce reduces and thickens, about 30 minutes

Serve hot with steamed rice and a cucumber and yoghurt raita.